Cloaked Desires
by Cyanne
Summary: Yet another prince arrives to court Allura. He's pretty handsome, but she's not going to let that distract her from being taken seriously as the pilot of Blue Lion!


Disclaimer: Voltron and its characters with the exception of Prince Aikian are the property of World Events productions. All rights reserved. I am receiving no profit for writing this story (though it would be nice...) This work of fiction is intended solely for the enjoyment of the show's fans…especially the near-obsessives like me.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: What follows is a slightly modified version of my very first venture into Voltron fiction. I've streamlined it a little, polished it a bit, but the story remains essentially the same. Be kind, I was young when I wrote it.  Because I make reference to these events in both "Tears of Pearls" and "Small Eternities," "Cloaked Desires" forms an unofficial prequel. P.S.: Confidential to Star Wars fans: I think I ripped off a line from "Return of the Jedi" somewhere: can you find it? Sorry, no prize, I'm just wondering if I'm crazy or not. Oh, in case any of you are wondering, yes, I did write under the name "Saturn Girl" then. (Ah…those bygone days…)

Without further ado, I present: 

CLOAKED DESIRES

A Voltron Story 

 by Saturn Girl (Cyanne)

At her wedding, Allura's veil and train were twenty feet long. She emerged from the Castle of Lions on Koran's arm, blinking in the bright morning sunlight. The people of Arus cheered. Allura looked up to see the five lions surrounding the ceremony, and they roared a salute. Allura smiled and looked forward, toward the altar, where her husband‑to‑be was waiting. She felt a wave of happiness and anticipation. His back was to her, and as she approached the altar, he began to turn around. He extended his arm to her and Allura took it gratefully. She turned her head to see her beloved's face‑‑

            Someone was shaking her. Allura moaned and turned over onto her side, but the dream receded quickly, as did the mysterious identity of her husband. Admitting defeat, Allura opened her eyes.

            Nanny was standing by her bed, looking impatient. "Up with you, now, Your Highness," she said curtly. "You've slept long enough."

            Allura sat up groggily. "Nanny, I had that dream again.. I'm about to get married, and I can't see my husband‑to‑be's face. That's the third time this week. What does it mean?"

            Nanny's expression softened into a smile. "My dear girl, all it means is that you're approaching your betrothal time. You're just not sure which prince you want to marry." Her tone was matter‑of‑fact.

            _Here we go again, _Allura thought with exasperation. "Maybe I don't want to marry a prince," she retorted petulantly. "Maybe I'll just continue flying the Blue Lion with the Voltron Force."

            Nanny looked stern again. "Must we have this discussion again? You're the princess of Planet Arus, and with that title comes certain duties. You must marry, and," Nanny lowered her voice and leaned forward meaningfully, "it must be a _prince_, so that we may ally with his planet against Zarkon."

            "What's so great about princes, anyway?" Allura grumbled, knowing she was being childish but beyond caring. "Every one of them I've met has been pompous and self-absorbed--or a spy for Zarkon. Can you blame me if I'm a little wary?"

            "You've just had bad luck, that's all," said Nanny. "Now get up and get dressed. You must meet with Koran in an hour."

            "What about?"

            Nanny clucked disapprovingly. "Have you forgotten that the prince of Planet Alria is to visit today? Koran wants to go over some formalities."

            Allura groaned, remembering. "I suppose he's on my list of suitors?"

            "He has that honor, yes." Nanny gently smoothed Allura's disheveled blond hair. "Why don't you put on something pretty, dearest? You'll want to make a good impression."

            As Allura reluctantly headed for the washroom, Nanny watched her pensively. "Ah, that girl," she said to herself. "What will we do with her?"

            The male members of the Voltron Force were relaxing in the rec room after breakfast. Pidge was on the floor, trying to teach the space mice a new trick, something involving somersaults and little bits of cheese. Hunk and Lance were playing checkers, and Keith was sitting on the couch with his perpetual cup of coffee and pensive expression.

            Everyone looked up when Allura entered. "Good morning, everybody."

            They chorused a greeting.

            "Hey Princess, we missed you this morning!" called Hunk. Too late, Lance motioned him to keep silent. Keith shot Hunk a look of scorn.

            Allura's jaw dropped. "This morning? I thought Koran cancelled flight practice, on account of the--" she bit off the words. The last thing she wanted was more teasing about the parade of princes Koran and Nanny had been shoving at her, beginning with her nineteenth birthday three months ago. 

            "We're sorry to have deceived you, Princess," Keith said when no one else seemed inclined to. "Koran felt your morning would be better spent getting ready for--" he paused delicately, his eyes sweeping to the floor, "your appointment this afternoon."

            _Oh no, Keith knows about this too? _Allura felt a hot blush seep up from her jaw line. "Oh, he did?" She kept her tone icy.

            "It was for your own good," Nanny said, appearing behind Allura. "You spend too much time flying that dangerous lion, and not enough with your royal duties. You're a princess, not a pilot."

            Allura rounded on her. "I am both, and I should have been present at that exercise this morning. I am a member of the Voltron Force, whether you and Koran like it or not." She turned to the rest of the team. "From now on, always alert me of training exercises, no matter what Koran or Nanny, or anyone else says! That is a royal order!"

             Lance looked as if he was fending off a smile. "Yes, ma'am!" he said, saluting. Hunk and Pidge laughed.

            Even Keith's lips were twitching. "Don't worry, Princess. We'll hold another session this afternoon, just for you."

            Koran entered the room. "Princess, come with me. The royal prince of Alria will arrive within the hour." 

            Allura flushed again. Lance whistled and raised an eyebrow. "Wow! The prince of Alria. Knock 'em dead, Princess!"

            "Give him kiss for us, Princess!" Hunk called, as Koran led a fuming Allura out of the room, Nanny following.

            When they had gone, Pidge rewarded the mice with their cheese and let them go. "Another one already? Boy, Koran's packing them in like sardines these days."

            "They'll make her pick one sooner or later," Lance said darkly.

            "But that's not fair," said Hunk. "She barely gets a chance to know each guy before another is shoved in her face. How can she know which one she wants to marry if neither of them ever gets a full sentence out?"

            "She could marry one of us," Pidge suggested with a grin. "We're all pretty good catches, especially me!"

            Both Lance and Hunk burst out laughing. "You're only twelve!" said Lance. "And you're not a prince. You know how Koran and Nanny feel about royal blood."

            All three began to speak at once, until Keith interrupted. "Hey, cool it, everybody. This is none of our business."

            Their captain's natural authority silenced them. Then Lance said slyly, "It might be. What if the Princess did want to marry one of us?"

            "That'd be up to her."

            "What if it was you?" Lance pressed daringly.

            Keith took another sip of coffee. "I'd tell her she'd better find somebody else."

            "What!" exclaimed Hunk and Pidge. "You can't be serious!"

            "What kind of man are you?" Lance asked, incredulous. "Come on, Keith, confidentially now---wouldn't you want to say yes, just a little? I know I would."

            Keith put his coffee cup down. "I've got a job to do," he said firmly. "And so do the rest of you, in case you've forgotten." He stood up. "Now let's get to the lions. Koran wants us to escort the prince's ship as it arrives." He left without bothering to see if they were following him.

             Lance, Hunk, and Pidge stared after him. "Are you sure he's human?" Pidge asked, shaking his head.

             Lance narrowed his eyes. "Oh, he's human all right, he just doesn't like to admit it. Come on," he said brightly. "Maybe we can practice some fancy moves with the lions that'll impress the Princess and take her mind off His Majesty."

             Allura, wearing her long flowing 'princess' dress, reluctantly searched the sky for the prince of Alria's ship. _Maybe he won't show up, she thought__, and then I can get Keith to show me the practice maneuvers I missed this morning._

            Just then, a large green ship came into view, flanked by four of the lions. Koran spoke into the intercom. "Keith, is everything all right up there?"

            Keith's voice came back with some static. "Everything's fine, but we're getting a little interference from somewhere. Don't worry about it, though, it's probably nothing."

            "I'll run a scan," Koran replied. "Probably just a little radio interference from our astronomy department. That's odd," he said a moment later, looking at a readout. "It seems to be coming from the prince's ship."

            "Can you tell where it's headed?"

            "Not without a couple hours of decoding."

            "Don't bother; I'm sure it's nothing," Keith repeated.

             The black, red, green, and yellow lions soared through the sky, flanking the large green ship bearing the national seal of planet Alria. In the black lion, Keith punched the intership comm code. "Begin descent. Take 'em in nice and easy, and Lance, no showing off when we get close to the castle. This is the prince of Alria's big entrance, not yours."

            "What makes you think‑‑" Lance began defensively.

            Keith eased his lion's nose up a little. "I know you, Lance. Hunk, Pidge, that goes for you, too."

            "What a party pooper," said Hunk.

            "All right, enough chatter," Keith said, back to business. "When I say go, we're gonna spread out to give the prince's ship plenty of room to land. You have your coordinates. Roger, everybody?

            "Roger."

            "Okay," said Keith, keeping a watchful eye on everyone's incoming altitude angle. "Go!"

            The lions spread gracefully out as the approached the ground. The prince's ship fired its retroboosters and landed quietly on the visiting platform. On cue, the four lions landed, forming a half‑circle around the ship. The Voltron force left their lions and stood at attention.

            Allura and Koran, with Nanny in tow, walked smoothly out of the bay doors to greet the Alrian ship.

            The ship's doors opened and a long gangplank extended. Allura, Koran, Nanny and the Voltron Force watched eagerly for the first glimpse of the visitor.

            There was the sound of boots clicking on the metal gangplank, and down came Prince Aikian of Alria.

            He was very handsome, with burnished mahogany hair, fair violet eyes, and a forest-green tunic that seemed to fit him like a glove. Allura could not prevent her eyes widening in appreciation. Prince Aikian smiled when he saw Allura, and she felt herself smiling back. Standing tall and regally, she took a step forward and extended her hand in the Arusian gesture of friendship.

            Aikian met her hand, raised it to his lips, and kissed it.

            Allura could feel her face flush pleasantly. "Welcome to Arus, Prince Aikian," she pronounced formally. "We are honored by your presence."

            "I am equally honored by your hospitality," Aikian replied instantly, in a voice as handsome as he was. "Princess Allura, your planet is the most beautiful I have seen, but your fairness seems to eclipse even that."

            Allura blushed again. Several feet away, Lance smirked at Keith, and Keith shot him a reprimanding look. 

            "Welcome to Arus," Koran said. "I sincerely hope your stay will be pleasant."

            Aikian smiled at Allura again. "So far, it has been."

            Out of the corner of his eye, Keith noticed Lance roll his eyes and elbowed him.

            Allura pressed the entrance button and the door to the rec room slid open. She had changed out of her dress and into her flight suit. "Okay, I'm ready for practice."

            Hunk looked up from the magazine he was reading and grinned. "Sure ya wouldn't rather be diplomatic with Prince Aikian?"

            "Very funny, Hunk, but as a matter of fact it's a great relief to be temporarily free of royal formalities. Koran's taking him on a hopefully lengthy tour of the Castle of Lions."

            "Looks like the prince made a good impression on you," Pidge piped up. "You're still as pink as your flight suit."

            "All right, boys," Keith said, "leave her alone. To the Lions, everyone!"

            Once all five lions had left their bases, Keith began to bark orders. "Okay, let's work on the maneuver we practiced this morning. Princess, I know you missed it so just try and follow everyone else. Most importantly, everyone make sure their fuel gauges are full; we're gonna make a few wasteful burns."

            The black lion soared into the sky, and the remaining four followed him in a V‑formation.

            "Okay," ordered Keith. "On my mark we're gonna do a two‑seventy arc and make a dive. Watch your acceleration on the dive. Stay at a speed of Mach six and don't slow down or speed up until I say so. Just listen to me and don't worry. Princess, do you have enough fuel? 

            "Yes, Keith."

            "Good. Mark!"

            Retroboosters fired and all five pilots wrenched their steering handles around, feeling themselves pushed toward one side of their seats with the force of the turn. Then, they pointed their noses down and began a dive at Mach six. The ground began to rush at them and they held steady, waiting for Keith's word.

            Keith, meanwhile, was monitoring everyone's dive. Everyone was doing fine, except‑‑"Princess, raise the power one macro up on your left rear jet; you're turning a little."

            Allura duly adjusted her power. Apprehensively, she looked down toward the rapidly approaching ground. Suddenly, she leaned forward to scrutinize an object: Prince Aikian's ship. She could just make out his figure standing outside it, conversing with the Arusian maintenance staff. She allowed her eyes to study him. He was certainly handsome.

            Suddenly her lion seemed to dip a little it its descent. Allura's eyes were jerked away from Prince Aikian's ship and back to her control board. Allura looked at her gauges. A cold wave rushed over her when she realized that her speed gauge read mach eight‑‑way too fast! Desperately, she fired her retroboosters to compensate, but it was too late: the planet's gravity had taken control. Allura felt a wave of panic. 

            As if through a thick fog, she became aware of a voice calling her name over the intership intercom. "Allura! Princess!" It was Keith, and he sounded worried. Through her panic, she heard the voices of the rest of the team shouting similar words of warning. _Focus, Allura she commanded herself. She tried firing her shoulder boosters, to slow her forward motion, but to no effect. The blue lion was hurtling toward Arus with a frightening speed. __What am I going to do?, she thought with fright. She heard Keith's voice again, shouting. "Bail out, Princess, bail out!"_

            "How?" she cried, her voice breaking with terror.

            "Red button on the bottom of the console! Hurry, Princess!"

            Shaking all over‑‑the ground was only a hundred feet away‑‑Allura managed to hit the eject button. Suddenly she was flying; she saw a blur of blue and white, and heard a ferociously loud roaring all around her. She tried to adjust the controls on the arm of the seat, then discovered that the seat had not ejected with her, that she was falling alone in the sky. Suddenly she felt a jerk‑‑a parachute? _But I'm not wearing a parachute. She looked down: what looked like a large blue carpet was waiting to break her fall..._

            Then she hit it and everything went black.

            Sunlight forced Allura's eyes open. At first she didn't know where she was.  Then she realized she was lying on the ground: how had she gotten there? The last thing she remembered was flying the blue lion‑‑and voices shouting her name. Allura tried to move and felt pain that ripped a moan out of her.

            She heard voices. "She's awake! I heard her moan!" Was that Pidge?

            "Get her some water!" It sounded like Lance this time. Something blocked out the sunlight; Allura felt her head tipped up and a cool liquid cascade over her lips. She managed to swallow some of the water gratefully. She heard her name being spoken.

            "Allura? Are you all right?" There was fear in the voice.

            _Keith? she wondered, and murmured his name._

            She heard a sigh. "She's all right; she recognized me."

            "Hunk, get Keith to lay down; he doesn't look good. Pidge, get him some water."

            Allura tried to stir. Was something wrong with Keith? She felt gentle hands restrain her. She heard Lance's voice: "It's okay, Princess. Just rest." She felt a cool piece of fabric on her forehead.

            The tone of his voice was soothing and, feeling safe, she surrendered to fatigue. Her last memories were of Pidge shouting for help into his comlink. "Pidge to Castle of Lions! Two men down! Repeat..."

            When Allura awakened again, the bright sunlight was gone, replaced by dimmer lights, and some squeaking sounds. She opened her eyes quickly at the odd sound, and nearly jumped out of her skin. "Chitter!" she cried. "You scared me!"

            Chitter squeaked an apology.

            "Your Majesty?" spoke a concerned voice.

            "Nanny!" she exclaimed weakly.

            Nanny came over to her, her face a mask of worry. "Oh, thank the heavens, my lady. We were afraid you would never awaken."

            Allura shifted a little, struggling to sit up. 

            "No, no, your Majesty," Nanny chided. "You must not move to quickly. You are still weak."

            Allura sat back obediently. "Nanny, what happened to me?"

            Nanny's expression hardened. "All I know is that you were training with the boys and the next thing one of them was radioing for help, saying that two of you were hurt."

            "Two of us?"

            "You and the young captain. You were both unconscious and soaking wet when they brought you in. Lord, it took ten years off my life."

            "Keith!" Allura  exclaimed. "Is Keith awake, too?"

            "Oh, my, yes. Quite a while ago, but he's confined to bed rest. Let's see, I think one of his arms was fractured."

            "Oh, no!" Allura cried. "He can't fly the Black Lion! We can't form Voltron!"

            "We've been lucky so far, Your Highness. Lance has taken over in the meantime, and things have been mercifully quiet lately." Nanny leaned forward excitedly. "Oh, but, Your Highness, the young prince has inquired after you daily, ever since you were brought back here a week ago."

            "A week ago!" Allura repeated in horror. "Arus has been without the lions for a whole week?!" She tried to sit up again, but dizziness pushed her back onto the pillow.

            Nanny exclaimed: "Oh, no, your Majesty, you must rest."

            "I've done nothing but rest for the past week! I must defend Arus..." Allura whispered, closing her eyes against the throbbing of her head and neck.

            "You must rest." Nanny's tone was unusually severe. "You cannot defend Arus in your present condition. The remaining members of the Voltron Force are managing nicely in your absence. I'll make some tea." 

            This information, intended to soothe, had the opposite effect. Allura felt tears of frustration burn under her eyelids. Of course they were getting along fine without her; in the past, they'd made it abundantly clear that she was not needed on the team! Allura tried desperately not to cry. 

            "Your Majesty?" asked Nanny with concern, having returned with a pot of tea. "A member of the Voltron Force is here to see you. Shall I tell him you are not feeling well?"

            Allura scrubbed away her tears. "No, I'm all right, Nanny. Let him in."

            It was Pidge. "Hi, Princess, glad to see you're awake at last!"

            She smiled. "Hi Pidge! How are you doing?"

            "It's me who should be asking that, Princess. Do you feel better?"

            "Yes," Allura said. "How is Keith?"

            "Oh, he's all right. He's awake, but no fun to be around 'cause he's stuck in bed and he doesn't like it!"

            Allura smiled at the image. She knew Keith never liked to be away from the action. "Pidge, can you tell me what happened?"

            Pidge looked down at his feet. "I don't know, Nanny said‑‑"

            "Forget what Nanny said," interrupted Allura. "I am the Princess of Arus and I demand to be told what happened."

            Pidge acquiesced. "Well, all I remember is that we were doing that dive toward the ground, and suddenly I noticed that the Blue Lion was diving awfully fast. I radioed Keith, but he had already noticed and was trying to get your attention, but you didn't respond. Then Keith told us to fly next to you as closely as we could. But you were falling too fast, and Keith told us to pull up quickly and get out of the way. I saw the Blue Lion crash and I was awful scared for a moment, but then Keith was telling us that you had ejected but your seat hadn't and he was going after you. We were flying right over the lake, and I saw Keith open the hatch of the Black Lion, jump out, and fall toward the lake, after you, I guess. Hunk and I flew low to watch, and we saw Keith catch you in midair and you both fall into the lake. After that, we landed on the bank and saw that Keith had dragged you out of the water, and was trying to revive you. Lance told me to get some water, and I did, and when I got back you were moving and Keith had collapsed. Lance told me to radio the Castle for help, and I guess Hunk had flown back to get help himself. When the medicorps came you were unconscious. Keith just had a broken arm, but we were really worried about you because you had a concussion. Keith was really worried about you; Hunk, Lance, and I had to hold him down so Dr. Gorma could sedate him. Everyone was really scared for a while, Princess, but I'm glad you're okay now." He stopped, out of breath.

            Allura could not move. All she could do was relive the accident as Pidge had told it. She remembered the feeling of panic when she saw that her lion was diving too fast, and remembered everyone shouting her name. Just the thought of falling through the sky made her shudder, but the realization that Keith had endured the same thing, and then swum her back to shore to revive her, made her feel faint. Suddenly she realized something else that made her face grow even paler than illness had already made it, and made Pidge holler for Nanny. She remembered why she had fallen: she had taken her focus away from the exercise--to gawk at Prince Aikian! Her own stupidity had nearly caused her death and Keith's! And the Blue Lion! At the rate she had been falling, it must have shattered to pieces. _And it's all my fault, she realized dully. __They'll never let me fly again! I've failed! My carelessness has left Arus undefended. If Zarkon had attacked....she could not even think of what might have happened. __Some pilot I am! Some princess I am! I don't deserve my title, or to be a member of the Voltron Force! Angry tears coursed down her cheeks when she thought of how much her momentary carelessness had cost the team. She rolled over and buried her face in the pillow, sobbing uncontrollably._

            Nanny rushed into the room. "What did you say to her! Oh, you foolish boy!"

            "I'm sorry!" exclaimed Pidge. "I didn't mean to make her cry!"

            "Hush, Your Highness," soothed Nanny, ignoring Pidge. "Everything's okay, dearest."

            "Go away!" Allura cried, her voice muffled but distinct. "Go away and leave me alone!"

            "But your Highness‑‑"

            "Go away!" The tone of her anguished voice still spoke with its customary authority. Nanny and Pidge obeyed her wishes and left the room, her sobs ringing in their ears. 

            A few days later, the doctors of Arus allowed both Keith and the Princess to leave their quarters and meet in the rec room with the rest of the team. But they were still confined to the castle, and their lion keys had been confiscated, except, of course, in the event of an emergency. 

            Naturally, Keith had called a meeting as soon as he received the news of his partial freedom. He was already in the rec room, waiting, when Lance, Hunk, and Pidge wandered in. Lance and Hunk looked as if they hadn't slept in the week-and-a-half since the accident, which was largely true. Even young Pidge looked tired. Keith's eyes were as a sharp as ever; in fact the only thing about him that spoke of the accident was the sling on his left arm.

            Princess Allura was late, and since no one had seen her since she was brought in, there was an air of apprehension in the room.

            Finally Allura arrived, and they were all shocked by her wasted appearance. She had always been slim, but now she looked almost painfully thin. Lance jumped up automatically, his fatigue forgotten, to help her to a seat. She refused to meet his eyes, but allowed him to escort her and sat down gratefully, obviously trying to conceal the immense amount of energy it had taken her to complete that simple action.

            "You feeling okay, Princess?" Hunk asked, his tone unusually gentle.

            Allura nodded. "I'm fine," she said quickly, still not looking at anyone.

            "Princess?" Keith asked quietly, fixing his dark eyes upon her. "Are you up to this?"

            Allura's head jerked up with surprising immediacy. "I'm up to it," she snapped defiantly, without knowing why.

            The usually immovable Keith seemed to start at her hostile expression. He gazed at her for a moment, then looked away. "All right, then. Is everyone else okay?"

            Everyone nodded the affirmative. "Good," said Keith. "Hunk, how are repairs going on the Blue Lion?"

            Allura seemed to flinch.

            "Not finished yet," answered Hunk. "But we're almost there." 

            The Princess's head sank; she looked utterly miserable. 

            Keith and Lance exchanged a look. Keith cleared his throat. "Well, that's all right. Take your time; don't skimp on anything. Zarkon's been far too quiet for far too long."  He looked as if he were about to say more, but a look at the Princess seemed to change his mind. "I guess that's it for now."

            Everyone got up. Hunk, Pidge, and Lance exited the room first, leaving Keith and the Princess.

            Allura rose with seeming ease and headed for the door. "Wait, Princess," Keith called.

            She froze, then turned slowly. "Yes?"

            Keith paused for a moment. "Are you all right? It's an honest question," he added, as she showed signs of flaring up again. "Don't jump on me, just tell me the truth."

            "I'm fine, Keith," Allura said, some of the hostility gone from her voice. 

            "You're sure?"

            She could hear the honest concern in his voice, and suddenly she didn't feel as testy. "Yes," she said, letting out a long breath. 

            He nodded and smiled slightly. "Glad to hear it. You had us all worried for a while. See you at dinner, then."

            Allura nodded. "Keith?" she asked hesitantly, as he turned to leave.

            He turned back. "Yes?"

            "I never thanked you...for saving my life," she finished.

            He smiled. "No problem." He turned to exit again.

            "Keith."

            "What?"

            "How's your arm?"

            Keith regarded his wounded left arm. "It'll be okay."

            "Does it hurt?"

            "Not so much."

            Allura's voice wavered as she said: "When I think about what you did for me‑‑" she broke off, staring into his eyes.

            Keith broke the gaze and waved her words away with his good arm. "Say no more, Princess. Just doing my job."

             Allura suddenly felt like crying. She opened her mouth as if to say something more, then thought better of it. "Well, see you later," she replied, trying to appear nonchalant. "Nanny's probably wondering where I am. See you at dinner, and‑‑thank you." She walked away as quickly she could.

            Keith nodded. Outside, he turned to watch her retreating figure with concern.

            "Hey, Keith," spoke a voice from the shadows..

            Keith started. "What is it?"

            "Sorry. Do you want to take a look at the Blue Lion? I think Hunk and I may have repaired the ejection seat."

             Keith nodded. "Lead the way."

              _Stop it, Allura admonished herself as she walked toward her room, still mulling over the conversation with Keith. __Just forget about it; concentrate on work now, and the horrible guilt will go away. _

_ Keith's words echoed in her head: "Just doing my job, Princess." __He's right, Allura told herself. __He'd have done it for anybody in my situation. Don't read words that aren't written.  She was so lost in these thoughts that she nearly ran into someone walking the opposite way. "Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise._

            Prince Aikian smiled at her. "I'd offer a penny for your thoughts, but something tells me they are worth considerably more than that."

            Allura blushed, embarrassed. So much had happened since the day he'd arrived that she'd very nearly forgotten his presence in the castle. She remembered Nanny's insistence that he'd been asking after her every day, and flushed even further.

            Aikian's smile only widened. "I hope you are feeling better, Your Highness. I have been unable to get much information out of your friends of the Voltron Force. I have a feeling they don't trust me."

            "They're just worried about me," Allura replied. "They feel responsible for me, especially Keith."

            "Was he the one who was injured while rescuing you?"

            Allura felt another pang of guilt for Keith's risk. "Yes."

            Aikian nodded quietly. "A brave man, your captain." He seemed to hesitate, then continued: "Princess Allura? Do you mind if I ask you a rather personal question? You may refuse to answer it if you wish. It really is none of my business."

            Allura shook her head. "You may ask, of course."

            Aikian hesitated again. "Is there something‑‑some kind of attachment‑‑between your Highness and Commander Keith?"

            Allura turned scarlet. "What makes you say that?" she asked uncomfortably. "Did Keith say something to you?" She found that she was holding her breath.

            "Mere observation, my lady," replied the Prince enigmatically. "I assure you that I only intrude upon your privacy to ensure that my visit here is not--necessary, if you catch my meaning, Princess."

            Allura nodded, feeling an even deeper embarrassment. Was her affection for Keith that obvious? "I understand, Prince Aikian, but you must have been mistaken," she said, her voice surprisingly even. "I assure you that there is no 'attachment,' as you put it, between me and Keith. He did save my life, but the members of the Voltron force are my guardians, and part of their job is to protect me at any cost. I have no doubt that the origin of Keith's actions was just that."

            Aikian nodded approvingly. "I must confess that I am glad to hear it; I was afraid I had tough competition. Princess, will you do me the honor of taking a turn with me around the castle? Forgive me, but you look as though the sweet Arusian air could do you some good."

            Shoving lingering thoughts of Keith out of her head, Allura accepted the arm he offered. "I would be honored, Prince Aikian."

            Lance fiddled with some wiring underneath the pilot seat in the blue lion. "I think what happened is the electropulse wire became dislodged, and so the energy flowing from the power cell, triggered by the eject button, couldn't reach the spring to release the chair."

            Keith's sharp eyes scanned the area Lance was referring to. "It could easily have gotten dislodged during the battle with Zarkon's last robeast. Blue Lion took a lot of hits, and it didn't go into maintenance because‑‑

            "Of the worker strike," Lance finished. 

            Keith nodded. "Makes sense. We're incredibly lucky that there's been no attack from Planet Doom lately. With the Princess and me out of commission we had no chance of forming Voltron."

            Lance straightened from his crouch beside the pilot seat and rubbed his eyes. "Speaking of being out of commission, I think I might be next."

            Keith shook his head. "Sorry, Lance. I appreciate what you've done, but we have lot of work to do. You've worked hard, and I thank you for it, but in a week or so my arm will be better and then we can start training again."

            "What about the Princess?"

            "I think it'll be longer until she's up and running again."

            "She seemed okay to me. She certainly acted okay."

            "Acted is the key word, Lance.  I don't buy it; she's a lot weaker than she was letting on. You know the Princess, never wants anyone to think she can't do something."

            Lance fixed Keith with a wry smile. "Reminds me of somebody else I know."

            Keith allowed himself a sheepish grin as they exited the Blue Lion. "It takes one to know one, I guess." Then something caught Keith's eye and his smile faded. Lance noticed the change of humor and followed his gaze.

            Princess Allura and Prince Aikian had emerged from the Castle of Lions, arm in arm, and had begun strolling around the castle, talking softly.

             Lance whistled. "Looks like I lost the bet. Prince Aikian and the Princess seem to be hitting it off very well." He looked sideways at Keith, wondering if he would rise to the bait.

            He did. "What bet?" the commander asked.

            Lance chuckled. "Pidge bet me ten bucks that Prince Aikian would get a callback, so to speak. I took devil's advocate." He looked at his feet innocently. "Well, guess I'd better rustle up ten dollars, eh?"

            Keith's jaw tightened almost imperceptively. "And I suppose you bet on yourself, right?" 

            Lance glanced at Keith sideways again. "No, I bet on you."

            If Lance had hoped for an explosion, he was disappointed. Keith merely shook his head. "That was a stupid thing to do."

            Lance fixed his gaze on Keith. "Was it?"

            Keith looked back at him suspiciously. "I don't know what you're talking about."

            Lance crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Come on, Keith, I'm not blind."

            "I don't know what you mean."

            Lance moved in front of Keith so they were facing each other. "Come on, man, what you did for Allura‑‑that took a lot of guts!"

            Keith replied sternly. "You know that one of our duties is to protect the Princess‑‑at any cost. I did what any captain would have done to protect a crew mate."

            Lance shook his head. "It's no use, Keith. I can read you like an open book."

            Now Keith was beginning to look annoyed. "Is that so?"

            "You're damn right it is!" Lance shot back. "Admit it, you have feelings for Allura and you're too proud--"

            Keith reacted with a vehemenence that startled his companion. "Save your breath, Lance, I've heard enough. Keep your little soap operas to yourself, I have better things to do." He tried to push past Lance, but the other man restrained him with uncharacteristic force.

            "Look, Keith," Lance said in a low tone, looking him in the eye, "I've seen the way Allura looks at you, and the way you look at her when you think no one is watching. Don't pass up a chance like this, not when you and I both know you've got a better chance than anyone else."

            Stunned by Lance's seriousness, Keith found his angry words shriveling up unspoken. "Lance, what's really going on here? Why are you telling me this?"

            "Because I think you've managed to give Allura the impression that the risk you took for her was a reflex, a mechanical thing with no emotion involved. But I saw your face, Keith, after she fell, and that's when I knew that what I'd only suspected was true. That was the first time I've ever seen you scared, really scared."

            Keith started to reply, then bit it back.

            Lance pounced on that almost involuntary movement. "Now tell me the truth, Keith."

            Keith looked away, just briefly, and that was confirmation enough for Lance.

            "You've got to tell her."

            "No," replied Keith firmly. "I have a job to do. I'm responsible for every member of this team, and right now that includes the Princess. I'd have done the same for any of you."

            Lance made a scoffing noise.

            "All right, let me put it this way." He looked Lance in the eye. "Zarkon and Lotor have a tougher task at hand dealing with a robot‑‑and I think you know I don't mean Voltron‑‑"

            Lance flushed.

            "--than with a human with weaknesses that can manipulated," Keith finished. "Understand?"

            It was such a bleakly practical view, it unnerved Lance. But Keith was right, absolutely right, however much it frustrated him. If Zarkon or Lotor even suspected that the Voltron captain had feelings for one of his team members, she would make a frightfully easy target. Lance shook off the uneasy feeling that thought gave him. He looked at Keith. "I don't know how you do it," he said honestly.

            Keith gave deceptively light shrug. "Someone has to."

            At that moment, Lance felt very sorry for Keith. But he also knew that Keith wouldn't want his pity. "All right, you martyr," he quipped lightly, "have it your way. But don't say I didn't warn you." 

            "Duly noted. Now let's get back to the Castle, there's--"

            "I know--work to do."

            Almost as soon as they entered the Castle of Lions, they heard an urgent voice over the intercom: "Code Red. Voltron Force to control room. Code Red. Voltron Force to control room."

            "Uh, oh," said Lance, "Here we go."

            Keith was already several feet ahead of him.

            Koran breathed a sigh of relief when they burst through the door of the control room. "There you are!"

            Hunk and Pidge were already there, but there was no sign of Princess Allura. "What's going on, Koran?" asked Keith.

            "Ships from Planet Doom have entered Arusian airspace!"

            Everyone gasped.  "It's got to be Lotor!" cried Pidge. "He's probably after the Princess again."

            "Do any of you know where she is?" asked Koran.

            Lance spoke up. "Keith and I saw her walking with Prince Aikian a few minutes ago, on the outskirts of the castle."

            Koran nodded. "I'll send someone out there." He pressed a button. "Search the area around the Castle of Lions and alert the Princess."

            "Better tell her to get to her lion," Keith said. "It'll save time."

            Koran spoke into the intercom. "Tell the Princess to get to the Blue Lion as quickly as possible."

            "Yes, sir," replied a scratchy voice over the intercom.

            Koran sighed. "May I speak to you alone, Keith?"

            "Sure, Koran."

            "I'm afraid I have more bad news," Koran said, when the rest of the Force was out of earshot.

            "What is it, Koran?" asked Keith.

            "Remember the radio signal you detected from Prince Aikian's ship as it landed?" Keith nodded and Koran continued. "I know you said not to worry about it, but on a hunch I sent it to our coding department. I just received the results: that signal was going to Planet Doom."

            "Oh, no!" Keith exclaimed in dismay. "Allura is in danger!"

            "Yes, Keith, in terrible danger. You must get to the lions at once."

            "I'm already there, Koran. Come on, everyone," he called to the team. "To the lions!"

            Princess Allura and Prince Aikian walked calmly along the south side of the Castle of Lions. Aikian was just telling the punchline of a popular Alrian joke. "So the Malershi runs away, and the hunter says: 'Well, I guess you can't teach a gold Malershi blue tricks!'"

            Allura laughed heartily. "You have a great sense of humor, Prince Aikian. I wouldn't be surprised if‑‑" her words were cut off by the sound of an alarm from a speaker positioned high on the south side of the castle. "Red alert. Voltron Force to the control room!"

            Allura started. "Oh, no, that's me, Prince Aikian. I have to go."

            Aikian restrained her with one bronzed arm. "Princess Allura, you can't be thinking of piloting the Blue Lion so soon after your recovery!"

            Allura resisted. "Don't worry about me, Aikian. I feel fine."

            He held her tighter. There was a strange look in his sky‑blue eyes. "Princess, I fear for your safety. Do you really think that you are well enough to pilot that dangerous lion? You might get hurt again. You must let someone else fill in for you."

            Allura stared at him in shock. "There isn't anyone else to fly the blue lion! I'm the only one trained for it! Now, please, Aikian, let me go!" _What is going on? she wondered._

            Just then, a castle guard appeared from the east side of the castle. "Your Majesty, First Minister Koran asks that you get to the Blue Lion at once!"

            "Thank you, I'm on my way!" As the guard turned away, Allura turned back to Aikian and tried again to free herself. "Didn't you hear? The Voltron Force needs me. Let me go!"

            He did not relax his grip. "I cannot allow it, Princess."

            Allura struggled as hard as he could, but his strength was greater than hers. She felt a tug of panic. She had no idea why he was so adamant on her staying, but all her instincts told her that she had to get to the Blue Lion as quickly as possible. With determination, she clamped onto his arm, quickly managed to flip him over her shoulder using the judo Keith had taught her.

            Prince Aikian had clearly not anticipated the move and appeared to be stunned. Almost immediately, she heard the roar of the other four lions taking off. Taking advantage of Aikian's shock, she took off at top speed for the blue lion loading bay.

            Inside the Blue Lion, Allura powered up right away and launched into the sky from the underwater base. She could see the rest of the lions flying in formation ahead of her. She pressed the comm button. "Keith, here I am!"

            "Glad to hear it, and not a moment too soon. Lotor's ship has just entered Arus's atmosphere, and judging from the size of his fleet, we're in for some fun. Ready to form Voltron!"

            "Okay," commanded Keith when the transformation was complete. "Everyone activate their safety bars; we may have to perform some difficult maneuvers. Make sure your weapons are up and ready to fire. Lance, Pidge, increase temporal power to maximum; we're gonna need the blazing sword. Hunk, I want you to keep watch for stray missiles near Voltron's feet. It's Voltron's weak spot and Lotor knows it. Radio me immediately if you see something, but I'm giving you manual rotary missile control in case there's no time. And Princess, I want you to switch off your computers and let me run the Blue Lion from up here."

            "What?" Allura exclaimed in shock.

            "You're not up to performance level and that could hurt us. Just switch your controls off; I can run everything from up here."

            Allura not believe her ears. "Keith, I'm fine," she insisted. "Let me run the Blue Lion. You have enough to worry about. And," she added indignantly, "I might add that your left arm is not completely healed, either. If you can fly, then so can I!"

            When Keith spoke again, his voice was tight with anger. "Princess Allura, as your commander, I order you to switch off your computers off this minute!"

            "It's for your own good, Princess," said Lance.

            "We're worried about your safety," added Pidge.   

            Allura felt tears of frustration sting her eyes. "Please, you guys, " she said, "we're a team. How can you refuse to let me fight with you?"

            Keith set his jaw. "I didn't want to have to do this, Princess." He pressed a code into the computer, and all of Allura's computers switched  off automatically. Fighting tears that she knew would prove them right, Allura sat back in her pilot seat and fumed. 

            Keith paused only a moment after switching off Allura's computers. "Okay, everyone, at point two‑four‑‑":

            Lance interrupted. "What the hell was that, Keith? Since when do you have the power to switch her power off?"

            Keith ignored him. "At point two‑four I want everyone to make a sixty‑degree turn and fire with your special weapons. I think we can‑‑"

            Pidge interrupted this time. "Keith, what you did to Allura wasn't fair at all!"

            "I agree," Hunk added. "That was dirty!"

            Keith punched the comm button angrily. "Will all of you just shut up and listen to me?! We're wasting valuable time. Now, at point three‑six, everyone make the turn and fire at Lotor's ship!"

            Everyone obeyed, and the lions swung around in a expert sixty‑degree turn. The Doom ships began to fire.

            Allura, in Voltron's right foot, stared out of her viewing window and watched the action, feeling horribly left out. I _wish I could at least communicate with them, she thought. __Keith didn't have to shut down all__ my computers! Suddenly she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. _

It was another ship, and it looked like Prince Aikian's! _What is he doing? she wondered. __This is a poor time to leave Arus. _

What she saw next made her gasp in horror. As she watched the familiar green ship ascend towards Voltron, a long gun positioned above the pilot's window slowly rotated and pointed towards Voltron's left arm: the Green Lion. As Allura stared in disbelief, it fired and scored a direct hit.

            The shower of sparks startled everyone, most of all Pidge. "Hey, what was that?"

            Voltron turned to face the source of the blast, but by then the Alrian ship had quickly moved out of view. Allura heard Hunk's angry voice say, "Where did that come from?"

            Allura suddenly remembered the comlink she always kept in her flight jacket. Since it was battery powered, it hadn't been affected by Keith's mass shutdown. She grasped for it, flicked it on, and spoke. "Keith, can you hear me?"

            If Keith was surprised to hear from her, his voice showed no sign of it. "What is it, Princess?"

            "That shot came from Prince Aikian's ship. I don't know where it went or why it fired on us, but I saw it happen."

            "Thanks, Princess."

            "Now, will you please return the blue lion to manual power?" she pleaded.

            "I'm sorry, Princess, but I just can't risk it." 

            Allura angrily switched the comlink off.

            Keith spoke over the intership comm. "Pidge, this is Keith, are you there?"

            "Yes," Pidge answered. "The comm unit seems to be okay."

            "What's the damage report?"

            "Basically everything else. The nav computer's fried, there's been a weapons shutdown, the list goes on and on. Will it respond to you?"

            A second later Keith answered, "No. Looks like Voltron's lost his left arm."

            "Wait a minute," Lance interjected, "does that mean we can't form the sword?"

            "I'm afraid it does," Keith replied. "But don't anyone worry. Voltron's still got lots of tricks up his sleeve."

            "At least up the right one," Lance quipped with determination. Then in a more serious tone: "I don't like this, Keith."

            "You're not alone on that one, Lance."

            Aboard the Planet Doom ship Revenge, Prince Lotor sat in the command chair, a satisfied smirk on his face. "Good shot, Prince Aikian. That was just what I needed."

            Aikian's voice came over the intercom. "Spare me the praise, Prince Lotor. I did what you said: I crippled Voltron's left arm, now take your imperial garrison _off _of my planet!"

            Lotor shook his head. "No, Prince Aikian, your work is not finished yet. Voltron is still functioning. Fire upon the right foot."

            "My scanners say that foot has lost all manual control. Firing on it won't disable it any more than it already is."

            "That is where Princess Allura is, you fool. If you recall, one of my initial orders was for you to apprehend Princess Allura and bring her to me. Since you have failed in that task, I'm giving you another chance to prove yourself worthy of my kindness."

            "She could be injured!"

            "I do not want my prize damaged. I trust you, Prince Aikian, not to harm her. All you need to do is fire upon the blue lion in a way to detach it from Voltron. Then my tractor beam will pull her in." When Aikian was silent, Lotor shouted: "Is that quite clear, Prince Aikian, or would you rather I simply increased the size of my garrison on Planet Alria?"

            Aikian replied in a tone of defeat. "I can't fight you, Prince Lotor."

            "You're a wise man, Prince Aikian. Fire at will," Lotor replied with satisfaction.

            Meanwhile, Voltron was having trouble dodging fire from Lotor's ships while keeping a watchful eye on Prince Aikian's ship. Keith was having a tough time controlling Voltron's movements while favoring two of his limbs. The loss of Voltron's left arm had severely impaired Voltron's maneuverability; it was a dead weight, but Pidge's presence made it a precious one. And although Keith would never have admitted it, returning manual control to the Blue Lion would have solved a lot of problems, but he knew he could not afford the risk. No matter what she insisted, Allura still had not completely recovered from the accident, and she was sorely out of practice. Both factors made her easy prey for Prince Lotor.

            Suddenly, there was an explosion, and a string of red lights began to flash on Keith's peripheral control board. "Keith!" Lance called over the intercom. "I've been hit!"

            Mentally cursing, Keith pressed the comm button and asked, "How bad is it?"

            Lance's voice betrayed the strain he was under. "Not too bad, but my target computer isn't responding. I'll see if I can patch something together."

            "Good, Lance, just do your best." Now the only perfectly functioning lion was the yellow one. "Hunk," Keith said. "Lance has lost his targeting computer. You'll have to take all the shots, and be sure to cover Lance and Pidge as best you can."

            "You don't have to tell me twice," Hunk answered, letting loose a barrage of rotary fire toward a large Doom destruction cruiser.

            In the head of Voltron, Keith's mind was working furiously. _Looks like I'll have to return the Blue Lion to manual power; I can't keep this up on my own. He had just raised his hand to negate the peripheral control code when a missile exploded on Voltron's right foot. Jarred and surprised by the impact, Keith opened communication to the Blue Lion. "Princess Allura? Can you hear me?"_

            There was a horrible silence, and then Allura spoke into the intercom. "I'm okay, Keith, but that blast was pretty high up. I think they're trying to detach me from Voltron."

            Keith closed his eyes for a second, willing himself to remain calm. "Okay, I'll give you back manual control. See if you can fix anything that's loose back there, and shield that area by any means necessary." He radioed Hunk. "Hunk, they're firing on the Princess. Do whatever you can‑‑" 

            Another bone‑jarring blast rocked the mighty robot. Keith abandoned the intercom and gazed at his screens in horror. The Blue Lion had been hit in the same place, and had become detached from Voltron! "Princess!" he exclaimed. "Princess, can you hear me?"

            There was no response. "Hunk! Detach immediately and try to intercept the Princess; she's separated from Voltron!"

            "Right!"

            "Can you contact her at all?" asked Lance.

            "No, something must have short‑circuited, I'm not getting any response." Keith's voice had a rough edge to it. "Keep working on that targeting computer."

            "Right, chief."

            Keith looked out his flight screen toward the falling limb. Allura had managed to get it to transform back to a lion, but its none of its boosters were firing. Keith was drenched with sweat by now, and his heart was beating so fast he felt ill. Grimacing, he forced himself to remain cool and focused. "Princess Allura, can you hear me? This is Keith. Repeat‑‑"

            "Keith!" Allura's voice came through the intercom with severe static. "My rockets won't fire!"

            _Damn!_ "I'm giving you back manual control right now!" He keyed the code.

            "Keith!" It was Lance. "I patched the weapons‑‑"

            Keith cut him off. "Great! Fire all you can at Lotor's ship! I think he's going to try to pull Allura in with a tractor beam!"

            "Right!" Lance shouted back.

            Just then, a weird blue beam shot out from Lotor's ship, engulfing the Blue Lion. The Yellow Lion, which had been flying to intercept its falling comrade, barely escaped being engulfed itself. 

            "Yellow Lion!" called Keith, "Re‑attach! Hunk, get out of there!" The Yellow Lion obediently flew back.

            A wave of fire shot out of the Red Lion's mouth directly at the tractor beam. Keith held his breath for a moment, then cursed vehemenently when the fire beam was absorbed by the blue ray. Lance tried again, firing all his weapons at once.

            The rockets and missiles bounced harmlessly off the strong blue beam, which was still towing the blue lion‑‑ which was firing its retrorockets with all its might‑‑toward Lotor's huge black ship.

            Keith stared at the beam  in dismay, shaking his head in frustration. Nothing seemed to touch that tractor beam! Their power was too weakened by the damage they had taken. Keith felt a cold wave of fear wash over him and he realized what had to be done. Gritting his teeth and closing his eyes in pain, he punched the comm button. "Lance, Hunk," he said tightly: "let her go."

            "WHAT?!" they chorused.

            Keith's voice was dry and empty. "It's no use; you're wasting your firepower. There's no way we can penetrate that tractor beam, and we don't have enough energy left to do any real damage to Lotor's ship. Save your energy and retreat."

            "Have you gone crazy!" shouted Hunk. "You mean we're just going to let that evil Prince Lotor kidnap the Princess?"

            Keith controlled his tone with effort. "I have every intention of getting her back, but we can't do any more today. We've lost too much."

            Lance, sitting motionless in the red lion, felt a dull ache in his throat, but with a shaking hand he pressed the "weapon‑uptake" button. The red lion's lasers retreated back into its body. Numbly, he radioed Keith. "Weapons retracted," he said dully.

            Keith breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Lance." 

            A few seconds later, he heard Hunk's voice repeat, "Weapons retracted."

            Keith spoke into the comm. "Pidge, everything okay?"

            Pidge's voice was teary. "Yeah. Weapons retracted," he echoed.

            Keith stared at Lotor's ship with intense hatred for a brief moment, then keyed the retreat code.

            On the Revenge, Prince Lotor could not conceal his triumph. "I don't believe it: Voltron is retreating. The almighty Keith is giving up! What a great day this is!" He punched a button on the arm of his chair. "Mordak, send a message to my father that I have triumphed and am returning with Princess Allura. And tell him I have just declared this day a national holiday on Planet Doom!"

            "Yes, your Majesty."

            Lotor looked at Voltron's retreating figure. "I knew this day would come. The Forces of Planet Doom have conquered the feeble planet Arus at last!"

            Usually, when Voltron landed after a battle, he was greeted by the cheering people of Arus. This time, the crowds were still there, but they were unnaturally silent, staring up at the damaged robot with betrayal in their eyes.

            As Keith keyed the separation code, he spoke to the other pilots. "It's going to get ugly when we exit the lions, so everyone enter the Castle of Lions as quickly as possible. Don't look at anybody and don't say anything. Everyone understand?"

            "Sure, Keith," Hunk replied without expression.

            "Good."

            When Voltron had separated into the four remaining lions, the pilots disembarked. The crowd was silent at first, then someone shouted, "Where is Princess Allura? Has Voltron abandoned her to Planet Doom?"

            "Some mighty robot you are!" someone else called.

            "Down with Voltron! He can't protect us anymore!" came various shouts.

            Staring straight ahead, Hunk gritted his teeth and fought the urge to defend the mighty robot. He glanced at Lance, who was walking beside him, his eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed. Up ahead, Keith was walking purposefully toward the bay door, as if he couldn't hear the awful shouts of the frightened crowd. Pidge followed him, limping slightly. The crowd's abusive shouts rang in the ears of the dejected Voltron Force long after the bay door was closed behind them.

            Koran was waiting for them inside. Surprisingly, he did not say a word about Voltron's defeat, but immediately summoned the medicorps to tend the bedraggled Voltron pilots. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were engulfed with blankets and led off to the medical facility, but Keith waved the medics away and went to talk to Koran. He told him what had happened to the Princess, and the extent of the damage to the mighty robot.

            Koran looked for a moment like he would lose it, but one look at Keith's pallor and red eyes and he only nodded quietly. "I'll have Maintenance work on the lions all day and all night until they are repaired. We must get Princess Allura back as soon as possible."

            Keith nodded wearily, rubbing his temple. "How long will it take?"

            "I estimate a week at least. Keith," he added, when Keith opened his mouth to protest, "I want to get Princess Allura back to Arus as much as anyone, but there is only so much we can do."

            Keith pulled off his helmet and ran a shaking hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, Koran. I just..." he trailed off, unable to think of the right words.

            Koran placed a hand on Keith's shoulder. "I understand, Keith. You did exactly what you could have, under the circumstances. Now, let the medicorps take care of you. You'll need your strength to rescue Princess Allura. I'll notify you the minute the lions are repaired."

            Keith nodded again and reluctantly allowed himself to be led to sickbay.

            Two days later, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were sitting in the rec room.  But instead of playing checkers or teasing the mice, they could only stare off into space, reliving the horrible battle that had resulted in loss of Princess Allura.

            Suddenly Lance spoke up. "Guys, I'm worried about Keith."

            Pidge nodded. "Yeah, he's barely said two words since the battle."

            "He hasn't even left his room," added Hunk.

            Lance frowned. "I think he blames himself for what happened to Allura."

            "Sounds like something Keith would do," admitted Pidge. "But it wasn't his fault; there was nothing anybody could have done."

            "Yeah, but you know how Keith is," said Hunk, "he takes his job so seriously, and he doesn't take defeat very well."

            "Yeah, and besides he‑‑" Lance stopped himself before he could betray Keith's secret.

            "And besides he's in love with the Princess," finished Pidge matter‑of‑factly.

            Lance stared at Pidge in disbelief. "How‑‑?"

            Hunk half‑smiled. "We've known Keith for a while, Lance. We can tell when something's up."

            Lance shook his head in wonder. "Well, don't say a word to anyone, all right? Keith will kill us all if Koran or Nanny get wind of this."

            "We know nothing," swore Pidge.

            "Absolutely nothing," Hunk added for emphasis.

            Lance nodded. "I'm gonna go talk to him."

            Lance knocked tentatively on Keith's closed door. "Hey, Keith, can I talk to you? It's Lance."

            "Come in," answered the voice on the other side of the door.

            Lance opened the door. Keith was lying on his bed, staring vacantly up at the ceiling. He was wearing his usual red flight suit. It was obvious that he'd been there for almost all of the forty‑eight hours he'd been back. He hadn't shaved or showered; a faint shadow roughened his usually smooth chin, and his hair was even wilder and more unruly than usual. He looked ill.

            Lance regarded him with concern. It was very unlike Keith to be other than impeccable. "You okay, buddy?"

            "I'm fine, Lance."

            "You don't look fine; you look like hell."

            "Thanks."

            Lance sat down in the chair next to Keith's desk. "It's nobody's fault, Keith. There was nothing anybody could have done‑‑"

            Keith interrupted, putting a weary hand over his eyes. "I'd rather not discuss it, Lance."

            Lance leaned forward. "Keith, stop this. You did what you had to do."

            Keith removed his hand from his eyes, regarding Lance wearily. "Thanks for trying, Lance, but I'm afraid no amount of positive reinforcement is going to help at this point." He sat up, leaning forward on his knees and lacing his hands. "You know what really gets me? That Prince Aikian was the one who took the shots at Allura and Pidge. He's obviously not what we thought he was."

            Lance scowled. "What I wouldn't give to get my hands on that traitor!"

            "Me, too," added Keith darkly. "I think he was in on the whole thing. He didn't come here to court the Princess, he came as a spy for planet Doom."

            Lance shook his head. "What I can't believe is that I never guessed it. The only thing I saw wrong with him was his liking for the Princess," he said ruefully. In a more serious tone, he continued. "But, seriously, Keith, you've got to stop torturing yourself over this." He smiled wryly.  "Allura--"

            "_Princess_ Allura."

            "_Princess_ Allura is a smart girl. Remember when she threw me during judo practice?"

            "You let her throw you and you know it."

            "Well, maybe," Lance admitted with a faint grin, "but she still surprised me. And I'll wager Lotor doesn't know judo."

            Even Keith could not help a ghost of a grin at that. "You're probably right, but don't get mad if I say I'll feel a lot better when the lions are fixed." His jaw tightened grimly. "And if I find out that he's laid a hand on her‑‑"

            Lance, his face similarly grim, interjected. "Don't think about that, Keith, it'll drive you crazy. Knowing Princess Allura, I'd say she's giving Lotor just as much hell by herself than we could with the lions."

            Doom castle guards shoved Allura forcefully into a dark dungeon. She managed to keep her balance and turned to glare contemptuously at the guards. Laughing, they slammed the door behind them. She heard one of them murmur: "Let's see what that cold dungeon does to her spirit."

            When they were gone, Allura scanned her prison. There was nothing she could use as a weapon, unless she somehow could force loose one of the large rocks that formed the wall and floor. High above, there was a tiny window, only about two feet squared, with iron bars. Through it, she could see the bleakness of the eternal Doom night. _In any case, she thought, __it'll be a while before I can figure a way out of here. Her laser gun had been confiscated, along with her comlink, when they had roughly searched her. Her face still burned with anger at the memory. __I expect Prince Lotor will arrive any minute._

            As if on cue, the cell door swung open, and Lotor stood in the doorway, examining her captivity with unconcealed glee. "So, Princess Allura, you have finally seen fit to pay me a personal visit."

            Allura drew her brows together and scowled at him.

            "Feisty. I admire that quality in my women."

            "I am not one of your slaves, Lotor," Allura spat. "I'd kill myself first."

            Lotor smirked. "Oh, I hardly think that's necessary, my dear. If you refuse me, you'll have that service performed for you."

            "I'd go to my death gladly, knowing I have been the one to teach you that you can't always have your way!"

            Lotor's expression darkened. "I'll have my way, Princess Allura. I do not intend to be disappointed this time."

            Allura felt ill when she saw the desire in his yellow eyes. "You're a brute, Prince Lotor! "

            "Name‑calling already? Well, things are moving quickly, aren't they?" He began to walk slowly towards her.

            Allura backed away until she ran into the stone wall behind her. As Lotor continued to approach her, she felt an awesome surge of hate rise within her. She could feel her body tense. If Lotor intended to take her by force, then he was going to have a fight on his hands.

            Lotor was only two feet away from her now. Allura started to move to the side, when he blocked her escape with his arms, trapping her in his embrace. "My dear, I'm really not that bad."

            As his face moved toward hers, Allura fought the urge to scream, and instead balled her hands into fists and sent one flying into his stomach.

            Lotor reeled from the blow, gasping for air. Almost immediately he began to laugh. Allura took advantage of this momentary lapse in surveillance, dropped down, and swung her leg in a wide arch, to trip him. 

            To her chagrin, he  stepped aside easily, laughing harder, but keeping his eyes fixed on her, daring her to make another such move. "I see someone has taught you some fighting moves. Too bad you haven't quite mastered them."

            Allura flushed with indignation. "Your pride is your weakness."

            "As your stubbornness is yours, Princess." Lotor fixed a steely gaze on her. "You might as well face it, Allura, you're my prisoner here forever. The Voltron Force has abandoned you."

            "That's not true!"

            "Oh, but it is, my beauty. As soon as your friends saw that I had captured you in my tractor beam, they ceased fire and flew away in cowardice. Perhaps," he said coolly. "they are better off without you. You never were a very good pilot, you know."

            That was too much. Allura let out a yell of frustration and charged at Lotor; reached up to slap him, punch him, tear his long white hair out of his scalp. 

            Through this barrage, Lotor laughed heartily. Suddenly he clamped his hands like a vice on her fighting arms, pulling her close to him. "It's no good, Allura. Every act of violence only intensifies my desire. I shall have you, with or without your royal consent!"

            Allura spat in his face. "You beast!" Mad with rage, she grasped the knife at his belt and raised it to her neck. "I'll cut my throat before I allow you to lay one filthy hand on me!"

            Lotor's grip tightened, and then, abruptly, he released her. Allura continued to hold the knife to her throat, her face contorted with fury. Lotor stared at her for a long moment, then easily took the knife out of Allura's hands. His gaze was one of cold anger. "I shall enjoy breaking your strong will." Without warning he slapped her across the face, sending her flying down to the cold stone floor. She lay there, gasping and fighting tears, as she heard him slam the dungeon door behind him.

            When the echo of his angry steps had died away, Allura sat up, wiping the blood off her cheek. _Keith, she thought longingly. __Where are you?_

            The next day the lions were ready. Keith was showered, dressed, and awaiting the others in the control room ten minutes after he was notified. Five minutes later, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge showed up. Keith plunged in, a captain once more. "Hunk, Pidge, get to your lions and fly a surveillance mission over Arus. Lance, you're coming with me."

            "But Keith," protested Pidge. "We want to help rescue the Princess!"

            "You're gonna need all the help you can get," chimed Hunk.

            Keith shook his head. "We can't leave Arus completely undefended. You guys are good fighters, and I know you won't let Arus be conquered by Planet Doom. Zarkon's ships will be here any day, now that they've heard that we can't form Voltron. You guys have a tough job ahead of you, but I know you can handle it."

            Hunk and Pidge nodded reluctantly. "I guess you're right, chief," admitted Hunk. "Come on, little buddy."

            Keith turned to Lance. "Ready?"

            "You know I am."

            Planet Doom was aptly named. Because the planet was tidally locked with its parent star, the half of it that faced the sun constantly endured temperatures of seven hundred degrees. The other half lived in perpetual darkness; that was where King Zarkon's palace was. The only light used was fire, and only the monarchy possessed the right to light its halls with flames. As the two lions neared the ebony surface, they could just make out the lights shining from inside Zarkon's palace. The single red dot of the palace against the darkness of the planet made the two pilots feel as if they were bearing down upon an enormous evil eye.

            Lance grimaced. "Cozy place."

            Keith's tone matched the surface of the planet. "And Princess Allura is a prisoner here." 

            Lance heard the anger hovering in Keith's voice. "Don't worry, Keith, we'll have her out of here in a jiffy."

            "That's not fast enough for me. Stay close, Lance, and activate your magnetoshield. It should make us invisible to their radar."

            "Magnetoshield activated."

            The two lions edged their way toward a large black forest a few miles away from the castle, landing as softly as possible within a large brush of trees. Lance and Keith quickly disembarked from their lions, lasers in their hands, ready to fire.

            "Nice place," commented Keith, eyeing the pitch black walls of trees that surrounded them.

            "Charming. Let's come here on our next vacation."

            "Got the night visors?"

            "Right here." Lance handed Keith what looked like a pair of binoculars with a head strap. 

            Keith put the goggles on. "Much better," he remarked, as the night suddenly lit up through the eyepieces of the special glasses. 

            Lance put his goggles on as well. "This place doesn't look so bad with these things on."

            "Okay, let's go." Keith motioned Lance to follow him. Keeping an eye on the scary‑looking Doom trees, they took off at top speed for the castle.

            "Hey Keith?" Lance whispered as they ran.

            "What?"

            "Something's tugging at my memory. Wasn't there something weird about Doom trees?"

            "They're carnivorous," Keith replied without missing a beat.

            "Oh, yeah. And aren't we running through a forest of them?" 

            "Yeah, what's your point?"

            "Don't you think it's weird that we haven't been attacked by one yet?"

            "That is weird," Keith answered absently.

            Lance continued. "'Cause it seems to be that by now we ought to have‑‑"

            There was a sudden violent rush of air. Keith and Lance turned just in time to see a huge bow shooting towards them at a frightening speed. Before they could even begin to think how to react, the enormous limb had caught Lance by the waist.

            Keith reacted like lightning. He shot his laser directly at the perpetrating limb. There was a huge scream, and a small pucker appeared in the bark of the great arm. Keith fired again and again, making a small circle of laser depressions around the arm that held Lance. As he had expected, the creature, unable to ignore the throbbing pain in its limb, slackened its arm and Lance fell to the ground. The bow receded to its owner.

            Lance, who had rolled to the floor of the forest, picked himself up and rejoined Keith. "Thanks for saving my life and all, but I have just one question."

            "What?"

            "Those laser blasts of yours could have passed right through the tree and hit me. Why _didn't they?"_

            Keith grinned sheepishly. "Doom tree bark is incredibly dense. There was no way simple laser fire could have penetrated that limb. And anyway, you've taken worse than a simple laser blast."

            Lance smirked good‑naturedly. "I'd hate to be in a plasma war with you," he remarked dryly, as they began to run toward the castle again. 

            Fortunately, they met no more tree‑beasts. When they reached the edge of the forest, they stopped, only slightly out of breath, and regarded the grim scene before them.

            Zarkon's castle was not black, but an insidious dark, moldy green. Firelight cast eerie shadows on those who walked within its dark walls, and black laughter seemed to echo through the stone walls.

Keith felt surge of outraged anger at Lotor and Zarkon for imprisoning Princess Allura in such an nightmarish place. Glancing sideways, he saw that Lance's expression was also hard.  "Ready to go?" Keith asked.  

            "I've been ready all my life. Let's go."

            Allura sat on the floor of her dungeon, leaned with fatigue against the icy cold walls, and shivered. She flexed her hands and feet, to prevent them from growing numb. She looked out the tiny window at the Doom night, and felt another surge of loneliness. She had lost track of how long it had been since her encounter with Lotor; surprisingly, he had not visited her again. She expected to hear his cruel steps approaching the dungeon every minute. She knew the longer he delayed, the slower her defense would be, due to the damp cold of the cell. Allura coughed, and felt the floor spin a little bit underneath her. Though she would never in her life have admitted it to anyone, she knew that she was still weak from the training accident. With every passing hour it became harder and harder to remain alert, as her body screamed for rest and warmth. Allura began to pace, to keep herself warm, but each time she paced, she had to stop to rest after an increasingly shorter length of time. Soon she could hardly go for a minute without almost fainting from exhaustion. _Where is the team? she wondered, lights dancing behind her eyes. __Keith, where are you? Why haven't you come to rescue me?_

 She felt the room spin faster this time, and she put her hands on the floor to steady it, dropping her head down and willing herself to stay awake. She coughed again, and tried to pull herself up, but her body would not move. Her ears were ringing, and she could hear Lotor's words, "I will enjoy breaking your will" and anger gave her the strength to pull her head up and lean against the wall again. Her heart was beating so fast..._stay awake, she commanded herself. __You must stay awake..._

            Keith and Lance had been able to sneak into Zarkon's immense palace with surprising ease. Keith was suspicious and would normally have taken it slow, but the thought of Allura as Lotor's prisoner put very nearly careless speed into his step.

            Lance, noticing his friend's agitation, covered Keith as carefully as possible. "Where do you think they're hiding Princess Allura?"

            Keith's tone was carefully neutral. "Either in a dungeon or in Prince Lotor's harem."

            Lance's expression darkened. He muttered something uncharitable about Lotor's ancestry under his breath. 

            They crept along the corridor, eyes peeled and ears alert for any sudden movement or noise. Suddenly voices erupted from around a corner down the hall. The voices were approaching. Keith and Lance flattened themselves against the wall perpendicular to the hall that was the source of the sound. From the raspy voices, they discerned that it was two castle guards.

            One of them was laughing. "I hardly think Prince Lotor will think of that. He's too busy with his latest girl, Princess Allura of planet Arus."

            "Ah, she is a pretty one, but fiery as a volcano. She'll give Lotor a good run."

            "I doubt she will have the strength. No one kept in the fifth dungeon ever does. She will be easy prey for him."

            "Then he will be in a good mood, and that will be a most opportune time to approach him about the union." As they moved off down the dark hall, their conversation was absorbed into the stone walls.

            Keith turned to Lance. "Follow those two and see if you can find out where the Blue Lion is. I'll get the Princess. The dungeon must be this way; they must have just come from there. Radio me when you find the lion."

            "You got it." Sleek as a cat, Lance moved after the castle guards, and Keith ran down the hall in the direction the guards had come from.

            At the end of the hall was a wooden door. Keith tried to open it, but it was locked. He aimed his laser at the lock and melted it nicely. He opened the door, closed it behind him, and stole down the stone stairs. 

            The stairs seemed to go on forever. As he descended, Keith could feel the air getting colder. Thinking of the Princess locked up down there, he quickened his pace.

            Far ahead, he could see the glow of a single torch in front of what must have been the entrance to the infamous fifth dungeon. Keith slowed down a bit, raising his laser. Sure enough, a guard sat at a stone table, counting what looked like the blood‑red Doom currency. Keith set his laser for stun and plunged down the remaining steps into the small nook.

            The guard looked up at the intruder, but before he could move, Keith fired. Once the guard was slumped over the table, stunned, Keith fired again, this time at the door, and the lock came apart easily. Keith grabbed the single torch and threw the door open.

            At first he didn't see anything in the dark cell. But then he heard a faint whimper, and, moving the torch in the direction of the soft sound, he saw Allura's semiconscious form lying on the floor of the dungeon.

            "Allura!" he cried, reaching her in two steps. He quickly laid the torch on the stone floor, where it could not catch on anything, and dropped down beside her, taking her in his arms.

            She was ghost‑white, and her hands and face were icy cold. Keith held her closer, running his hands over her arms and back to get the circulation in her body flowing again.

            She moved a little, her eyelids fluttering. Keith noticed a scar on her cheek, and some dried blood on her white face. Someone had struck her, he realized.

            Allura's eyes opened, and she blinked a few times, trying to focus. She seemed to recognize her surroundings, but Allura started when she realized she was being held. She began to struggle violently.

            "Princess, it's all right, it's me."

            At the sound of his voice, she stopped struggling. "Keith?" she whispered.

            "I'm here, Princess. I've come to get you."

            "Keith!" she cried, throwing herself against him. He allowed her to, feeling a strange pain around his heart.

            Allura was murmuring. "I thought you'd never come; I thought maybe you didn't..."

            Keith suddenly tightened his arms around her. "Of course I came for you. You know I'd never abandon you. We need you, Princess_. I need‑‑" he stopped himself abruptly. __What am I saying?_

            Allura was shivering. "I'm so cold, Keith..."

            Keith abruptly noticed the chill of the air surrounding them. The very thought that she'd been shut up here, cold and alone, not yet recovered from the accident a month ago‑‑with effort, Keith managed to keep his blood pressure from rising in fury.  He looked down at the Princess. She was still pale, but her eyes looked brighter‑‑how come he hadn't noticed how deeply blue they were?‑‑and she had stopped shivering. He rubbed her arms some more, then asked, "Can you stand?"

            She nodded. "I think so."

            Keith slowly stood up, pulling her up with him. He started to let go, but she had overestimated her strength and fell against him. She felt so fragile in his arms, and Keith was seized with a feeling of almost overwhelming tenderness. Leaning against him trustingly, she raised her head and looked up at him.

            Keith was arrested by the look in her eyes. He found himself staring into them as if hypnotized.

            They were inches apart when self‑awareness hit Keith with the force of a meteor impact. _What am I doing? he thought in amazement. On instinct, he jerked away from her, feeling his heart careen against his rib cage. He took a few deep breaths, willing his head to stop spinning. He dared not think how close he had come to losing control of himself. He could feel Allura's gaze upon him, but he refused to meet her eyes._

            Just then, the communicator on his arm beeped. Keith took one arm away from the Princess and spoke into it. "Lance?"

            "Found the lion, and not a moment to soon; it was about to become scrap metal."

            "Good work, Lance," Keith said.

            "Is the Princess all right?"

            "She's fine, she's right here," Keith answered, feeling like himself again. "Where are you?"

            "The scrap yard. I had to follow a long trail, and I'm not sure exactly where I am, so you'll have to use the homing device in the comlink to find me."

            "No problem, Lance. We're on our way." Keith flicked the communicator off. Feeling safely in control again, he addressed Allura. "Can you walk?"

            She nodded. Her expression had solidified as well. She looked like a paler version of her old self.

            Despite her claim, she leaned heavily upon him as they walked out of the dungeon. They had only taken about ten steps up the staircase when her strength ran out again. Without a word, Keith lifted her gently and carried her the rest of the way.

            By the time they had reached the area where the homing beacon had indicated, Allura appeared to have recovered her strength. She walked‑‑if somewhat slowly‑‑without Keith's help, and the old sparkle of determination had returned to her eyes. 

            When Lance saw them approaching, he discreetly motioned them inside a large rusted space barge. He blanched when he saw Allura's pallor. "You okay, Princess?"

            "I'm fine, Lance," Allura answered smoothly.

            "What happened to your face?"

            Her hand went self‑consciously to the bright red scar on her cheek. "It's nothing. It doesn't hurt."

            Lance did not look convinced. He shot a glance at Keith, who shrugged.

            Keith removed his laser gun from his hip and offered it to Allura. "Here."

            "Keith, you need that," she protested.

            "You need it more than I do, Princess. Take it; I can get by without it." 

            The stern look in his eyes silence further protests. Allura accepted the weapon. "Thank you."

            "What's the condition of the Blue Lion?" Keith asked Lance.

            "Everything checked out okay."

            "Good. I want you to get the Princess away from here. Wait for me where we left the other lions."

            "Check. Come on, Princess," he reached for her arm.

            She ignored it. "Keith, you can't be serious. You don't even have a weapon. Come with us in the blue lion and we can get out of here quickly."

            Keith shook his head. "It's better if we split up, and anyway I've got a plan. I'll meet you back at the black lion in half an hour."

            "Wait!" cried Allura. She held out the weapon he had given her. "Don't argue," she said, "just take it and go."

            Keith gazed at her for a moment, then quietly accepted the laser. And then he was gone, back inside the dark palace.

            Allura watched his figure disappear. She felt a hand on her shoulder.

            "Come, on, Princess, let's get out of here," said Lance.

            Allura yanked herself out of her reverie. "All right, let's go."

            A few minutes after reaching the Blue Lion, Lance was at the controls and the great ship lifted up into the air and flew toward the dark outskirts of Castle Doom. Allura stood by the pilot seat, a faraway look in her eyes. 

            "Princess," said Lance, glancing up at her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

            "What? Oh, fine," answered Allura absently.

            Lance paused, automatically adjusting his controls as if he'd flown the blue lion all his life. "Lotor didn't‑‑ well, he didn't try anything, did he?"

            Allura's mind was still megaparsecs away, but she managed to reply: "Oh, he tried all right, but he didn't succeed, thanks to the judo you guys taught me. Like I said: I'm fine."

            Lance nodded. "Okay, Princess."  Allura could see the Red and Black Lions below. Lance took the Blue Lion into a slow, easy dive and landed about fifty feet from the other two lions.

            "You fly the Blue Lion well," Allura remarked.

            Lance shrugged. "It's not all that different from the red lion. Now," he said sternly. "I've got med supplies in my Lion. Let's see about that scratch."

            Allura reached up to touch her cheek again. To her chagrin, it had begun to bleed once more. She followed Lance out of the Blue Lion, and waited while he climbed into the Red Lion to fetch the supplies. She looked around at the dark forest; she cringed at its awesome menace.

            Lance was back in a few moments, with a small white box with a purple circle on it: the Allied Planets' first aid symbol. He removed a tube of ointment and a bandage. "Now let's see that face of yours."

            Allura obediently offered the scarred cheek. "Lance?" she asked. "What do you think Keith is doing?"

            Lance answered as he delicately cleaned the wound. "I have no idea, but whatever he's doing, he'd better be back in twenty minutes or I'm going after him."

            "And me," said Allura.

            Pause. "You can't go back in there, Princess, you're a fugitive. You'll have wait for us in your Lion."

            "Lance," Allura protested.

            "The decision is non‑negotiable, Princess."

            Allura pulled away. "You sound just like Keith. Why don't any of you trust me? You guys take a laser blast in the arm and go on as if nothing happened. Has it ever occurred to you that I'm tougher than I look?"

            Lance was fighting a smile. "I have no doubt of that, your Majesty, but the decision stands."

            "What if I choose to follow you?" she challenged. "Oh, shut up," she snapped, when she saw he was trying not to laugh. "You remind me of Prince Lotor."

            "_Ouch. That's a world‑class insult, Princess."_

            In spite of herself, Allura couldn't resist a smile. She knew he was trying to relax her, get her mind of what might be happening at Zarkon's palace. "How much longer?" she asked.

            "Don't worry, Princess," Lance replied, closing the first aid box. "Just take it easy; Keith will be back soon."

            Keith slunk along the black passageways of the labyrinthine Doom palace, his mind working at a feverish pace. In truth, he hadn't had a plan formulated at all; all he knew was that he had to find a way to keep Zarkon, Haggar, and Lotor busy for the next few weeks so Allura‑‑and Arus‑‑could recover.

            Just then, a shower of green sparks shot out of a doorway about ten feet ahead of him. Keith stopped short and plastered himself against the wall. Then he slowly inched toward the source of the sparks.

            He could hear voices inside; Lotor and Haggar were arguing. "You stupid witch!" shouted Lotor. "We're wasting precious time. How can a pitiful fireworks display conquer Planet Arus?"

            "Patience, Your Majesty," Haggar replied tightly. "These things take time, and you want it to work, don't you?"

            "It had better work, witch. I grow tired of waiting for my trophy."

            "Relax, Your Highness. The electrical storm I am creating will turn Arus into a superconductor for any electromagnetic activity in the area. In addition, the magnetic field created by the storm will pull in any comets within three megaparsecs. Planet Arus will be fried and shattered to pieces."

"A satisfying vision, Haggar, but what about Princess Allura? I do not want her shattered to pieces."

            Haggar's tone was frosty. "She refused your advances, did she not?"

            "That is none of your affair!"

            "Your defensive tone reveals it all. She has refused you, and she will continue to do so until her death. Even now she defies you by returning to Arus with her friends. Why not let her be trapped on Arus with my storm? You would have had her killed anyway, am I not correct?"

            "Maybe so," Lotor replied, "but I intended to deliver her punishment myself. You are stealing the glory that should rightfully be mine."

            "It is not yours because you have proved on countless occasions that you are not worthy of it," Haggar snapped. "Refresh my memory, Your Majesty. Exactly how times have you been defeated and humiliated by Voltron?"

            "I would not mention that if I were you, witch!" Lotor shouted angrily. "You forget that I am your superior and if I desired I could have you thrown in prison or banished to a forgotten world."

            "You have the power of royal lineage on your side, " Haggar replied, "but my power of cosmos far exceeds simple temporal power. I could vaporize you instantly if I so desired!"

_Things are sure getting ugly in there, Keith thought. __Maybe it's time to make my move._

Gearing himself for battle, Keith launched himself into the witch's sorcery room, firing directly at the large crystal ball in which Haggar's storm was brewing. To his chagrin, his laser beam bounced harmlessly off the glowing orb.

            Lotor had already reached for his sword. "What a pleasant surprise: the Voltron captain has decided to join us. Wasn't that nice of him, Haggar?"

            "Very nice," said the witch. "He shall be a fine test of my electro‑storm's destructive power." She raised her stick and blue flames shot out at Keith.

            Keith dodged and fired at Lotor. The dark prince easily blocked the blast with his sword. "Is that the best you can do, human? You're really not that scary without your Black Lion." He raised the sword above his head. It began to glow a fierce green.

            Keith stood his ground. "Take your best shot, Prince Lotor. I'll fight you to the death before I allow you to send that terrible storm to Arus."

            "Excellent. That is precisely what I had in mind." With these words, Lotor lunged forward, brandishing his glowing blade. Keith dodged easily, dropping to the ground and rolling out of Lotor's reach. He fired another shot at Haggar's ball, but it was repulsed again.

            The witch laughed. "Shoot all you like at my crystal ball, pitiful human. The electromagnetic shield will only absorb the energy of the laser blast and grow stronger."

            Keith dodged another of Lotor's attacks, his brain working furiously. He eyed the stick Haggar held; she was never without it. If he could destroy that stick... Keith winced as Lotor's sword grazed his shoulder. His heart was pounding; his wounded arm ached. The room whirled slightly, but Keith forced his eyes to focus on his adversary. Thinking about what Lotor may have done to Allura gave him an adrenal rush of anger, and he lunged forward, attempting to disarm the evil prince. Lotor's grip faltered, but he managed to hang on to his weapon, swing his free hand toward Keith, and knock the laser out of his hand. Keith tried to jump to retrieve it, but Lotor grasped his sword with both hands and thrust the sword at Keith's throat. 

            "You are beaten, Keith," Lotor growled.  "No amount of brave, noble words will can save you now." The dark prince shifted slightly and adopted a relaxed air. "Such a shame, to come all this way to rescue the Princess, only to fail now. If you were not my rival, I would be deeply moved."

            Keith's foot shot out to knock Lotor off his feet, but the evil prince dodged easily, temporarily moving the sword a few inches away from Keith. But it was enough.  Keith rolled away from the sword and lunged for his laser.  Lotor reacted quickly, slashing at the air directly in front of the laser, so that Keith jerked away to avoid being hit.  Lotor kicked the weapon several feet away, then placed one foot on Keith's back, holding him down, and pointed the sword at him. 

            "Was that the best you could do?" he goaded.  "I must say I had hoped better of your abilities.  After all, you must have been the one to teach Princess Allura to defend herself."  He leaned down, smiling a smile that Keith didn't have to see to recognize its evil.  "She did an admirable job, by the way, you know, but‑-" he paused, savoring the anticipation of the words that he knew would send Keith into a rage, "it is only a matter of time before she surrenders to me."

            Suddenly Keith didn't care what happened to him; the only thing that mattered was killing Prince Lotor for all the unspeakable things he'd ever done‑‑or threatened to do‑‑ to Allura.  He braced himself‑‑

            Abruptly, there was a dull thud, and a groan from Lotor. Keith turned in surprise to see the dark prince crumple to the floor. _What happened? he thought groggily, his head throbbing. As if in a dream, he saw Prince Aikian offer him a hand to help him up. _

"You okay?" the Alrian prince asked.

            Keith felt another hot wave of fury engulf him. He shrank from Aikian's helping hand and lunged for his laser. Grasping with a force that turned his knuckles white, he pointed the weapon at the Alrian prince. "What the hell are you doing here?"

            "Relax!" Aikian said, spreading his hands. "I'm here to help."

            "The hell you are. You betrayed us." Keith's angry gaze and aim did not waver.

            Aikian blanched. "I can explain‑‑"

            "Forget it. You're just as bad as Lotor. Don't move." Keeping his aim on the Alrian prince, he looked for Haggar. To his immense surprise, she was gone. _Damn! he thought. The crystal ball was also missing. __That means that storm could be on its way to Arus right now!_

            Aikian voiced Keith's thoughts. "That storm could destroy Arus. I know I don't deserve a chance, but believe me when I say that I want to spare Arus its horrible fate as much as you do. Please let me help."

            Aikian's resigned tone did not touch Keith at all. "I'm not letting you distract me, you dirty traitor! I usually give second chances, but after what you've done, you aren't worthy of my mercy." He fired at Aikian, hitting him in the side, then turned and ran out of the room and out of Castle Doom. 

            At top speed, he ran through the black forest toward where he and Lance had left the Lions. He looked up into the dark sky, and saw a faint green glimmer becoming fainter and fainter: Haggar's electrostorm, on its destructive path to Arus. He put on an extra burst of speed. Ahead of him, he could hear the roar of one of the Lion's engines powering up; Lance was probably coming after him. His chest hurt, but he kept running, thinking only of the terrible danger heading toward Arus.

            When he reached the clearing where the Lions where, he ran straight for the Black Lion. Inside, he heard Lance's voice on his intership comm. "Just like you, Keith, down to the last second."

            "Arus is in danger!" Keith said, strapping himself in. "Haggar sent an electromagnetic storm that will destroy it. We've got to beat it there!"

            "Red lion launching," said Lance.

            "Blue lion launching," said Allura.

            "You okay, Allura?" Keith asked.

            "I'm fine," she replied. "You're not keeping me out of this battle, Keith."

            "I couldn't. We're gonna need you in this one. Let's go!"

            The three Lions lifted off the ground and flew toward the stars. "Increase speed to Mach six," Keith ordered. "Switch on electromagnetic scanners and find that storm!"

            A minute later, Allura spoke up. "I've got it, Keith. Sector twenty‑three G, traveling at Mach five, and heading straight for home."

            "That gives us about fifteen minutes," Lance calculated. "Not much time to lose."

            "You said it," said Keith grimly. "Increase thruster output by fifty percent."

            "Won't that burn up our engines?" asked Allura.

            "Not if you calibrate your forward vector. It's a stretch, but I think we can afford the risk."

            "Right. Beginning calibration. I hope we get there in time."

            "We will, Princess," said Keith.

            Back on Arus, Pidge noticed a light flashing on his console. "Hey, Hunk, I'm picking up an electromagnetic disturbance heading straight for us."

            "I see it too," replied Hunk. "What do you think it is?"

            "Your guess is as good as mine." Pidge pressed his comm button. "Hey, Koran, do you see anything big, ugly and electromagnetic heading in our direction?"

            "I'm afraid so, Pidge," replied Koran from the Castle of Lions. "A huge electrostorm appears to be approaching at a speed of Mach five."

            "Yikes!" Hunk and Pidge exclaimed. "Can we do anything about it?" asked Hunk.

            "I'm afraid I don't know," said Koran. "I've never seen anything like this. It must be from Planet Doom."

            "No kidding," answered Hunk dryly. "Come on, little buddy, let's go check it out."

            "Okay!"

            The Black, Red, and Blue Lions soared through the cosmos. "There it is!" said Keith.

            Ahead of them was a huge sparkling cloud flashing with sporadic bursts of lightning. "Now there's a storm I wouldn't want to be caught out in," breathed Lance in awe.

            "Me neither," replied Keith.

            "How are we going to stop it?" Allura asked.

            "I'm not sure," answered Keith. "The only solution I can think of is somehow changing its direction."

            "But how?" she asked.

            Keith thought a moment. "Well, if we fire our electron boosters, we should be able to neutralize at least part of it. Since the rest of it will still be charged, there will be an imbalance in its electromagnetic energy. That just might divert it from its course."

            "It's worth a try," said Lance.

            "I hope Hunk and Pidge see it," added Allura. "We could sure use their help."

            "You called, Princess?" came a familiar husky voice.

            "Hunk!" Keith exclaimed in relief.  "Is Pidge with you?"

            "You bet I am!" Pidge piped.

            "Great!" said Keith. "Ready to form Voltron. Activate interlock! Dynatherms connected! Infracells up! Megathrusters are go!"

            "Let's go Voltron Force!"

            "Okay," said Keith. "Safety bars down! Everyone pump up your electron boosters to full power. Brace yourselves; I'm taking us up to Mach eight."

            A roaring filled everyone's ears and they felt themselves pushed back against their seats with the force of the acceleration. Voltron became a blur of bright colors against the backdrop of the cosmic night. Ahead of them, the devastating green storm crackled and popped with electricity and magnetism. "Get ready everyone," Keith said. "We're gonna pass the storm."

            The roar grew until the team closed their eyes and felt their ears sting against its painful frequency. After a few minutes that felt like a few hours, Voltron overtook the huge storm and the intensity of the electromagnetic scream decreased until it was no longer painful. Ahead of them, they could see Planet Arus, glowing its peaceful, innocent violet color. Allura felt tears in her eyes at the sight of her home.

            "Everyone all right?" Keith asked, when he could hear again.

            "Fine," Lance said, "but you can't complain about the volume of my stereo after that."

            "Point well taken," replied Keith. "Everybody check your electron power levels again."

            "Maximum power," his fellow pilots chorused.

            "Good. Let's blow this thing to the edge of the universe." Voltron made a sharp arc and faced the storm again. "Fire electron boosters!" Keith called.

            Red beams of light shot out of the lion heads directly into the storm. There was a large crackling sound, and some of the energy from the storm shot to hit the mighty robot. Everyone winced at the shocks they received. "Keep going!" shouted Keith.

            The steady hum of electromagnetic reaction filled their ears. Several minutes passed, with no change in the trajectory of the electrostorm. "I don't understand," said Keith, gritting his teeth in pain. "We should have neutralized at least some of it by now!"

            "Maybe you need more power," spoke a new voice. The Voltron Force turned and gazed out of their viewscreens at a familiar dark green ship.

            "That's Prince Aikian's ship!" Pidge gasped. "What's that traitor doing here!"

            "Maybe he's come to finish us off," Lance remarked bitterly.

            "Prince Aikian!" exclaimed Keith, opening up a comm link to the Alrian ship. "What are you doing here?"

            "I've come to offer help, which you need badly, whether or not you admit it," replied Aikian tightly. "Will you accept my assistance?"

            "Don't listen to him, Keith!" cried Pidge.

            "Yeah, he's trying to trick us!" added Hunk angrily.

            "I implore you for the sake of Arus," said Prince Aikian. "You don't have enough firepower to neutralize the storm. You must allow me to help!"

            "Keith, are you there?" asked Allura, noticing his silence.

            There was a pause, then Keith replied: "I'm here. Okay, Aikian, you've got your chance."

            "Keith!" interjected Lance. "What if he fires on us again?"

            "That's a risk we'll have to take," Keith answered grimly. "He's right; we need the help. Fire when ready, Aikian."

            The Alrian ship began to barrage the storm with an electron beam of its own. The electromagnetic hum intensified.

            _Please, please, let this work, thought Allura desperately._

            The green storm swelled, its brightness increasing with the force of the electron beams bombarding it. The Voltron Force gazed with silent hope at the fierce glow. Suddenly, the stray lightning bolts that had been tossed out of the storm ceased, and the electrical shocks subsided. The blinding brightness dimmed, and the storm began to recede.

            "Yes!" exclaimed Lance.

            "We did it!" shouted Pidge.

            "Voltron, one," called Hunk, "electrostorm, zero!"

            Allura sat back in her seat, tears of happiness streaming down her cheeks.

            Keith exhaled in relief. "That was too close. Thanks for your help, Prince Aikian."

            "It is I who should thank you for giving me a chance," replied the prince. "I hope you believe me when I say that I am sorry for the trouble I caused."

            "You're forgiven," said Allura. "What you just did made up for it all."

            "But you still have a lot of explaining to do," added Keith.

            "That is true," sighed the Prince. "If you will give me permission to land, I will do it gladly."

            "Granted," said Keith. "Come on, everybody, let's go home."

            "Wait," interrupted Pidge. "Where's the storm going?"

            Keith calculated a trajectory for the storm. He grinned. "Well, it looks like it's retracing its steps: right back to Planet Doom!"

            "Yeah!" everyone exclaimed.

            "Right back in old Haggar's face!" said Lance. "That ought to keep them out of our hair for a long time!"

     "      I hope so," was Keith's reply. "I think we could all use the rest."

            Back on Planet Arus, Allura was immediately whisked off to sickbay. Nanny was overjoyed to see her princess back safe and sound, and refused to let Allura out of her sight for the first two days after her return. Allura would normally have been annoyed at such overprotectivness, but she was so glad to be home that she endured it in great stride. When Nanny finally allowed her to meet with the rest of the team and Prince Aikian, everyone was pleased to see that Allura's color had returned, and the scar on her cheek looked much better.

            When she entered the meeting room after her week's convalescence, everyone stood up and clapped. "Oh, stop it," Allura chided lightly as she took her seat.

            "We're all glad to see you up and about, Princess," said Keith with a smile.

            "Your Highness, if I may have permission to stand?" asked Aikian, who was seated in the guest of honor seat to Allura's right.

            "Certainly." Suddenly Allura noticed that his waist was swathed in a bandage. "Goodness! What happened to you?"

            Aikian looked down at his bandage ruefully, then glanced at Keith, who looked equally sheepish. Turning back to the Princess, he grinned. "It's a long story that I will be happy to elaborate upon later, but first‑‑" Aikian stood up, bowed, and brought out a bouquet of flowers from behind his back. "Welcome back to the world."

            Allura blushed. "Oh, Aikian, you shouldn't have!"

            "How could I not?" he smiled. "They reminded me of you."

            Lance smirked at Hunk and Pidge, who shrugged their shoulders. Lance glanced at Keith, but his expression was neutral. Lance nudged him and whispered: "What a smoothie, huh?"

            Keith's expression did not alter.

            Allura accepted the flowers, still blushing, and Aikian took his seat. "Thank you, everyone," she said. "It's wonderful to be home, and allowed out of my room, finally," she added ruefully. "I want to thank you all for defending Arus with all your might. Arus is lucky to have a defense force like you. First of all, I want to commend Hunk and Pidge," she nodded at them, "for their superb job of watching Arus for me while I was gone." Everyone clapped, and Allura continued. "I want to thank Lance for his help and support on Planet Doom." More clapping, "and Aikian for his bravery and assistance with Haggar's horrible storm. I would also like to thank Aikian for being a wonderful friend to me ever since he came. In spite of certain actions," she added, "I hold you in very high respect."

            Aikian smiled widely and nodded at her as everyone clapped again.

            Allura cleared her throat slightly. "And last, but certainly not least, I want to thank Keith. I can't even begin to list all the things you've done for me; the list is endless. Thank you so much," she said, "for everything."

            Keith nodded, smiling his familiar crooked smile. Allura beamed back. "Well," she said after a moment, "that's all I wanted to say. Does anyone have any new business?"

            "We haven't heard a thing from Planet Doom," said Koran, from his post near the door. "But we have had some interesting news from an allied force who passed near Doom recently. Apparently the storm hit the planet full force, and its rotation was affected. Zarkon's castle is now on the daylight side of the planet."

            Laughter erupted around the table. "That is almost too perfect!" Lance said.

            "In any case," said Keith, "the sunburns they'll get should keep them from terrorizing anyone for quite a while!"

            Allura chuckled. "I'm glad to hear it. Anything else?"

            "Yes, Princess," said Keith, gazing sternly at the Prince. "I believe Prince Aikian owes us an explanation for his behavior a few weeks ago."    

            Meeting Keith's judgmental eye, Aikian nodded. "You're right, Captain.

"About two months ago, the Alrian people were awakened at dawn by laser fire from Lotor's fleet. There were so many of them, our relatively small militia was nearly wiped out. Finally, we were forced to surrender. Lotor landed and announced that he had decided to give us the _honor," Aikian sneered, "of serving as an alternate base for Planet Doom.  I tried to bargain with him, offering any service if he would only allow us to live in peace. He looked at me shrewdly, and asked me if I knew of Princess Allura of Arus. I said I did, and he said he would remove his fleet if I apprehended Princess Allura and brought her to him. I refused to do something so awful, but that made him angry and he ordered his troops to fire on the crowd surrounding the castle." _

Aikian closed his eyes in pain. "Fifty innocent people died by his cruel hand. I begged him to stop and agreed to perform the horrible task." He gazed at Allura. "He ordered me to woo you as any prince would, and bring you  back to Alria, where he would be waiting.  I could not sleep the following night. By dawn I had decided that I could not deliver you to such a evil man and I determined to double‑cross him. I decided that I would keep the first part of the bargain, but instead of bringing you back to Alria, I would set course for a faraway world where I knew you would be safe until the Voltron Force could rescue you. It all seemed so simple," he mused. "But I didn't count on falling in love."

            Allura flushed. Keith glanced at her and nodded for the prince to continue.

            "I also didn't count on Lotor suspecting my betrayal. I was stunned when he showed up here with his fleet. I guessed his intentions and tried to prevent Allura from flying the Blue Lion and right into his trap." Aikian gave Allura a sheepish grin. "You must have thought I was crazy that day, trying to keep you from defending your planet." He rubbed his neck ruefully. "You should thank whoever taught you judo."

            Allura couldn't help sending Keith a small grin. He allowed himself a grin back. But it didn't hang around long. "Go on, Prince Aikian."

            "When I came to, I saw Voltron flying toward Lotor's fleet. I hesitated only a moment before running to my ship and ordering my crew to take off and open a comm channel to Lotor's main ship. I demanded an explanation, but he laughed and said that his motives were purely those of insurance. He said he never trusted royalty, and had anticipated my scheme. He ordered me to fire upon the left arm, warning me that he could send a message to his soldiers on Alria in a instant, telling them to inflict another massacre upon my people. Thoroughly hating both him and myself, I took the shot." He lowered his head in disgust. "I'm sorry, Pidge."

            "It's okay," Pidge replied. "He gave you no choice."

 "I implored Lotor to allow me to leave and to remove his garrison from my planet. I told him I'd done my best, but his arrival had destroyed all chances of my carrying out his orders. When he ordered me to fire on you, Allura," Aikian paused, his voice hoarse, "I very nearly ordered my crew to fire on him, and hang the consequences. But I couldn't stop thinking of my planet, my poor people. I shuddered to think what would become of them should Lotor blast my ship into atoms for insubordination. Firing on you, Allura, was the hardest thing I've ever done."

            "You did what you had to do to save your planet," Allura said quietly. "You aren't to blame for Lotor's callousness."

            Aikian sighed. "As soon as the missile was launched, I ordered my crew to get as far away as possible. I was afraid of what I might do, and I think my crew could see that. I despised myself, and all I could think of was getting away, as far away as possible. We flew back to Alria and I shut myself up for two days, until we received word that the Voltron Force was going after you on Planet Doom. I saw everything clearly then: I'd gotten you captured; the least I could do was help the Voltron Force rescue you. I took off immediately." He turned to Keith. "I was looking for Prince Lotor when I heard the commotion in Haggar's magic chamber. Looked like I got there just in time."

            Keith shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "Yeah, I guess you could say I was in a bit of a bind. I'm sorry for the way I reacted."

            Aikian shook his head. "You had every right to be hostile; I would have reacted so in your place. Anyway, when I had recovered by bearings, I went back to my ship and took off after you guys. I guess the rest is history," he finished.

            The table was quiet as everyone digested the information. Then Allura spoke up. "Thank you, Aikian. The story you've told us proves that you are a valuable ally. Everything you did, you did for the good of your people, and that's the most noble thing a ruler can do. As far as I'm concerned, you are completely forgiven."

            "Thank you, Princess," said Aikian, "but I have the feeling that I'm not off the hook until Captain Keith says so."

            Everyone looked at Keith. After a slight pause, he said. "What you did showed great courage, Prince Aikian. No one can condemn you for your past actions after you helped us save Planet Arus. You're okay in my book." He extended his hand to Aikian.

            Aikian smiled and shook it firmly. "Thank you, Captain."

            Allura sighed, happy that everything had worked out. "Good. I guess that's it for now. Meeting adjourned."

            Everyone rose. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge moved off, discussing the possibility of making a trip to the ocean to go surfing. Keith went to talk to Koran. Allura was about to join them, when Aikian put a gentle hand on her arm. "Allura, may I have a word with you?"

            "Of course," she answered. "What about?"

            Aikian looked around self‑consciously. "If you don't mind, I'd rather we were alone."

            "All right," agreed Allura, accepting the arm he offered. As they walked slowly toward the door, Allura caught Keith's eye on her. He looked away quickly. Strangely discomfited, Allura allowed Aikian to lead her out of the room.

            Aikian stopped a few feet down the hall. "Allura," he began, then stopped.

            "What is it, Aikian?" she asked.

            He tried again. "Allura, I wanted to ask you something." When she nodded, he continued. "Do you remember my reason for coming here?"

            Allura felt her heart begin to beat very fast. "Yes."

            "I know a lot has happened since then, but..." Aikian trailed off and ran a hand through his tousled blond hair. "I wanted to let you know that I haven't changed my mind." He sighed. "Allura, I don't even know if I've the right to ask, but, will you marry me?"

            Allura swallowed, her heart thudding against her rib cage. "Aikian, I...don't know what to say," she stammered weakly.

            Aikian clasped her hands in his. "I know what you must think of me, Allura, but believe me when I say that I love you very much, and if you say yes I'd be the happiest man alive." He looked into her eyes.

            Allura desperately tried to catch her breath. "I‑‑" she struggled for words, but none came. "I‑‑" she tried again, unable to express her feelings.

            Aikian continued. "You don't have to answer now. My transport back to Alria leaves tomorrow night. Will that be sufficient time?"

            "Of course," Allura replied, mentally steadying herself. "Yes. Thank you."

            Aikian smiled and kissed her hand. "I'll see you at dinner, then?"

            "Yes," Allura replied. She watched him disappear down the hall, her mind reeling over what had just happened. Just remembering it made her hand fly to her lips. Prince Aikian wanted to marry her! _Marry her! He wanted her to be his wife! Oh, what Nanny would say! She'd say what a fine and handsome prince he was, and how being the queen of Alria and having his children would be much less dangerous than flying the Blue Lion. Allura grimaced at that last thought, but admitted to herself that she was fond of the Alrian prince. He was brave, noble, kind, and yes, handsome, but still…something didn't feel right.  _

Then she realized what it was that didn't feel right. To marry Aikian was to leave the Voltron Force. 

            "Princess Allura?"

            She started and turned. "Pidge."

            "Nanny asked me to find you. Dinner's ready."

            "Oh," she exclaimed. "Thank you, Pidge. I completely forgot. Go on ahead; I'll be along in a moment." When he was gone, Allura leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths to slow her ragged breathing and so as not to betray her agitated condition. When her heart rate returned to normal, Allura smoothed her hair and made her way to the dining room as calmly as possible.

            When she entered, Allura immediately caught Aikian's eye, and she felt herself involuntarily turn pink. Miraculously, no one said anything, and she sat down as nonchalantly as possible.

            Dinner passed without incident. Allura chatted easily with Koran, laughed at Lance's jokes, and listened intently with everyone else as Aikian related stories of his home planet. As Nanny was serving dessert, Koran happened to remark, "You sound as if you miss your home world, Prince Aikian."

            "I do, very much," he replied.

            "It sounds like a wonderful place," Allura said. "I'd like to see it someday."

            Nanny chuckled. "Well, you might very soon, my lady, if things continue on as they have been." She leaned toward Allura and said in a very audible whisper, "Has he asked you yet, my dear?"

            Allura felt her face inflame. "_Nanny," she hissed._

The table fell silent. Aikian, his own face slightly flushed, cleared his throat. "As a matter of fact, I have."

            Allura stared furiously at her napkin, wanting to run from the table. After a moment, she peered up through her eyelashes. Koran, Pidge, and Hunk all stared at her with similar expressions of surprise. Lance was uncharacteristically speechless. And Keith was simply staring at her in shock, an odd look in his dark eyes. Allura tore her gaze away from Keith, suddenly feeling close to tears.

            Nanny did not appear to be surprised at all. "That's wonderful!" she exclaimed, breaking the stunned silence. "Have you given him an answer?"

            _Damn Nanny for putting me on the spot like this! Allura thought with unusual vehemence.__ Willing her voice to remain even, she admitted, "The prince has generously given me until tomorrow night to make my decision." _

            "It is a very big decision," Aikian added as if to help. "I wanted her to be sure."

            Nanny opened her mouth to say something else, but a murderous look from Allura silenced her.

            Koran was the first to recover. "Well, shall we eat?"

            No member of the Voltron Force touched their dessert. After some stilted small talk, the Voltron Force adjourned to the rec room to relax‑‑or at least attempt to. Koran and Aikian walked off together, discussing plans for an Arusian Embassy on Alria. Nanny gestured to Allura to come and talk to her, but Allura ignored her signs and followed the rest of the Force.

            Everyone was seated in their usual places when she entered. Allura felt everyone's eyes on her as she took a seat. She folded her hands nervously, staring at the floor.

            Pidge was the first to speak. "Are you going to tell Prince Aikian yes?" 

            Allura raised her gaze. "I don't know," she replied softly.

            For the first time, Keith spoke. "You do realize, Princess, that if you marry Prince Aikian you can no longer be a member of the Voltron Force." His voice was cool, and he did not meet her eyes.

            "I know," she answered.

            The silence was horrible. Allura felt it pressing down on her chest so she could hardly breathe. _Someone say something, she thought. __I can't bear this. But no one said a word. Allura glanced up and saw all but Keith gazing at her quietly._

            Frustration moved Allura to react. "Will you all please stop staring at me as if I've grown a second head? I'm still the same person."

            "Yeah, but now you're practically engaged," grumbled Hunk.

            "She hasn't accepted yet," Keith reminded him.

            "So you're going to?" Lance looked at Allura almost accusingly.

            "I don't know!" Allura sighed. "It would be wonderful for the Alliance if our two planets united. Arus could definitely use the additional protection of the Alrian space force. The time has come for me to think in terms of my planet, not of myself." Her gaze was downcast. "Excuse me." She got up and left the room.

            "So that's it? She's going to marry that guy?" asked Pidge when she was gone.

            "She had a good point," Lance mused. "An alliance with Alria would certainly help Arus."

            "And Prince Aikian sure turned out to be a decent guy," admitted Hunk. "What do you think, chief?"

            Keith leaned his head against the back of the couch with a sigh. "She was a princess before she was a pilot, Hunk." There was a hint of bitterness in his tone. "We'll just have to find a replacement."

            Lance stared at Keith in disbelief. "Already? Shouldn't we wait and until she says yes?"

            "Wake up, Lance," Keith suddenly snapped.  "An alliance with Alria will increase both planets' chance of defeating Zarkon. The more we can ally the peaceful planets of the galaxy, the more strongly we will be able to resist the onslaughts of Planet Doom. Allura has a responsibility toward Arus; she must do the best she can for her people. The best thing for Arus is for her to marry Prince Aikian. End of story." He got up to leave.

            "Keith!" exclaimed Lance.

            Keith whirled angrily. "What, Lance? This isn't like me, is that what you're going to say? There's nothing I can do, there's nothing any of us can do. If Allura chooses to marry Aikian and leave the Force, then that's the way it goes. Just accept it!"

            The ferocity of Keith's tone silenced all further arguments. His expression hard, he turned and left the room, leaving the rest of the Voltron Force staring after him.

            Allura walked hesitantly down the corridor, her heart thudding furiously in her chest. _This is insane, she thought. __Turn around before you do something stupid!  But she couldn't stop thinking of what had happened‑‑what had almost happened‑‑when Keith had come to rescue her on Planet Doom. __I couldn't have been the only one. Keith had to have felt something‑‑I know he did! _

 She continued doggedly down the hall, finally stopping at a certain door. She raised her hand to knock, then let it fall. _What am I doing? This is crazy. But she had to know. She took a deep breath and raised her hand again. This time her hand touched the door, but only tapped it lightly, barely making a sound. As her hand dropped again, Allura sighed. __This is hopeless, completely hopeless. Maybe I should just tell Aikian yes, for the good of Arus.  She blinked away tears of frustration._

            "Allura? Are you all right?"

            Allura inhaled sharply in surprise and looked over her shoulder toward the source of the voice. "Lance."

            He was regarding her solemnly, his hands on his hips. "Are you okay?"

            Allura caught her breath. "I'm okay."

            He continued to gaze at her, obviously not convinced.

            "Lance, I'm fine," she added for emphasis. When he still looked at her, she spoke again. "I just‑‑oh, never mind!" She ran away in tears, leaving Lance staring after her.

            A few moments later, door opened. "Lance?" Keith asked in surprise. "Is there something going on?"

            Lance looked at his friend sadly. "No, Keith." He shoved his hands in his pockets, gazing down the hall where Allura had disappeared. Then his gaze shifted to Keith. "But there could be." He began to walk away.

            "What do you mean by that?" Keith called after him.

            "Figure it out" was the curt reply.

            The inhabitants of the Castle of Lions awoke the next morning with trepidation. Today was Prince Aikian's last day on Arus, and also the day that Allura had promised to give an answer to his proposal. Nanny and Koran hoped for the alliance' though they would miss their darling princess terribly, the marriage would keep Allura safely out of the war with Planet Doom. The Voltron Force, on the other hand, had mixed feelings. Their morning Lion practice with the Princess was stilted and uncomfortable. Keith was the only one who spoke, and his only words were orders for the next formation. 

After practice, they all entered the dining room as quietly as if they were attending a funeral. Hunk, Lance, and Keith's expressions were carefully neutral; only Pidge's wan complexion betrayed his sadness.

            Prince Aikian arrived, looking as handsome as ever, but nervous, and Nanny could not help saying a silent prayer that Allura would accept him as her husband. Koran kept a careful eye on the Force, particularly Keith.

            When Allura entered, everyone stood, as was customary. She nodded for them to take their seats and quietly took hers.

            Breakfast was uncomfortable and half‑hearted. Pidge refused to eat; even Hunk had only one of his usual three helpings. Lance sat with his shoulders hunched, and only cracked one half‑hearted joke during the meal. Keith's appetite was noticeably smaller, but nothing in his face nor in his stance spoke of any kind of internal conflict. Allura noticed that none of them would meet her eyes.

            When the grueling meal was over, the Force took off to the rec room, as usual, Koran followed them, and Nanny took herself off to tidy Allura's room. Allura met Aikian's eye, and without a word, they walked off together.

            In the rec room, Hunk challenged Pidge to a game of checkers, which he accepted. Lance stared at the same page of a magazine for twenty minutes. Koran and Keith began to discuss some new flight strategy, but Koran gave up; he could tell that for once, the young commander's mind was not on his work.

            When the door opened, everyone looked up quickly. It was Nanny, holding two suitcases. "For the Princess," she explained. "To save time."

            After that, all attempts at any kind of time‑consuming task were futile. Everyone looked pensive but Nanny, who sat complacently with a determinedly pleasant expression. 

            The whoosh of the entrance opening caused everyone to jump. Allura entered calmly, her puffy eyes revealing past tears. For a few moments, she stood there, waiting for someone to speak, while knowing that they expected the first words to come from her.

            Koran broke the silence. "Well, Princess? What did you say?"

            Allura swallowed. Taking a deep breath, she spoke. "He's gone," she said, briefly but emotionally.

            Everyone expelled the breath they hadn't realized they'd been holding. Nanny stood to speak.

            Allura raised her hand toward her nurse. "Please, Nanny, don't say anything. I don't want to talk about it."

            Nanny nodded slowly, and sat back down.

            Pidge broke the second uncomfortable silence. "I'm glad you're staying, Princess."

            Allura smiled in relief. "So am I, Pidge." 

            "We couldn't have done without you, Princess," added Hunk gently.

            Her eyes damp again, but this time with happiness, Allura smiled even more widely. "That's good to hear; thank you, Hunk."

            Lance un‑hunched his shoulders. "Guess we'll have to tell Chitter that he won't get to fly the Blue Lion after all."

            Allura laughed softly, her eyes brimming over. "Thank you so much, everyone." She couldn't help her eyes straying to Keith. His eyes were lowered. He seemed to sense her gaze and looked up, with the crooked grin she loved. "I would have hated to lose a good pilot."

            Allura beamed at the compliment. "Speaking of piloting, how about some more practice? I've got a lot of catching up to do."

            "Good idea. Let's go."

            Hunk, Lance and Pidge voiced their agreement.

            As Allura headed for the door, she heard Keith say her name.

            "Yes?" she said, turning.

            Keith stood there for a moment, as if he didn't know what to say, gazing at her with his dark eyes. Then he smiled. "It's good to have you back, Princess."

            Her heart fluttering, Allura grinned back.   

THE END 


End file.
